 | On the third day of his Latin American tour, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, met with the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Brazil’s capital Brasília. "In recent years, the long-standing bilateral relations between European countries and Latin America have undergone qualitative changes, which are symbolised by the formation of a strategic partnership between the European Union and Brazil and an in-depth dialogue with Latin America. The desire of both sides is to further enhance these relations," stressed Dr Türk after the meeting.
In their talks, the two Presidents devoted special attention to a topic which will be one of the priorities of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit in Lima, i.e. social policy and combating poverty. According to President Türk, Slovenia and the European Union are familiar with and appreciate Brazil’s efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region, as well as to resolve the most demanding global challenges of the present day, such as combating poverty and inequality, climate change and concern for the environment, areas in which Brazil has achieved significant results.
The two dignitaries also discussed the possibilities of economic cooperation between Slovenia and Brazil. The Slovenian President highlighted the strategic position of the port of Koper and emphasised that Slovenia has great interest in economic cooperation. "Brazil is a successful actor in the world market and has made progress in all areas and is desirous of exporting its products to Europe. At this point Slovenia is able to cooperate and would also benefit from such cooperation. Moreover, Brazil is a large market, open to our market providers. However, there is no reason to fear Brazil's size and distance. I can see that there are many Slovenian business people who have no such fear," President Türk pointed out. In the morning, Dr Türk also chaired the first part of a business conference in Brasília, which was attended by Slovenian business people and their Brazilian partners, as well as by representatives of the competent Brazilian ministries. Among other things, they discussed the strategy of cooperation in the future, the lifting of administrative barriers to Slovenian economic representation in Brazil and to the decision-making process in investment projects. As regards trade in goods, Brazil is Slovenia’s most important foreign partner among the Latin American countries.
Brazil was also the first Latin American country to announce the opening of an embassy in Slovenia, and Slovenia will open an embassy in Brazil.
In the morning (local time), Dr Türk met with the President of the Federal Senate, Garibaldi Alves Filho, and other eminent senators, and in the afternoon with the President of the Supreme Federal Court, Ellen Gracie Northfleet. |