US signaled entry into the Amazon Fund with an initial contribution of US$ 50 million and a promise to try to attract other countries
The president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) left Washington at 12:00 am (Brasília time) this Saturday (11.Feb.2023) after having met with the President of the United States, Joe Biden. The main result of the meeting was the signal that the North Americans will join the Amazon Fund with an initial contribution of US$ 50 million – the equivalent of R$ 270 million.
The accession of the United States to the fund was already expected by the Brazilian government, but the offer came from the North American government in the expanded meeting, in which, in addition to the 2 presidents, ministers and secretaries from each country also participated.
The Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, accompanied the meeting, as well as her counterpart, the Presidency’s Special Envoy for the Climate, John Kerry. The amount to be allocated to the fund, however, still needs to be approved by the US Congress.
Watch the moment Lula leaves the Blair House (53s), the US government guest house:
In addition to discussing the climate, Lula and Biden also discussed the possibility of creating a global coalition of countries not involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to the conflict.
The joint statement released by the 2 countries says that Lula and Biden “deplored Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and annexation of parts of its territory as flagrant violations of international law, and called for a just and lasting peace”. read the full (82 KB).
The 2 countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in multilateral institutions, such as the G20, which will be chaired by Brazil. There was also agreement on the reform of the security advice from the UN (United Nations) to include countries in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The intention is that the agency can respond “more effectively to the most pressing issues related to global peace and security”.
The discussion also addressed the defense of democracy and the need to reject extremism and violence in politics. The 2 condemned hate speech and reaffirmed their intention to build society’s resilience to misinformation.
In the speech made in the Oval Room of the White House, Lula stated that the 2 countries have “some problems to work together” for “never again allow there to be a new chapter of the Capitol and never again to have what happened in Brazil, an invasion of the National Congress, the president’s palace and the Supreme Court”.
Biden, in turn, said that Brazil and the United States have strong democracies and that they were “hard” tested. “In both cases, democracy prevailed”he said.
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