Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said US President Barack Obama had a “unique” chance to transform relations with Latin America, as he became the region’s first leader to size up the new US head of state on Saturday.
The crippled global economy dominated the talks, just a few weeks before the G20 summit of developed and developing nations in London on April 2.
The two leaders also discussed alternative energy and stalled global trade talks.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Lula, who made a public call for developed nations to help thaw frozen credit markets that are punishing developing economies, said Obama was in a “unique and exceptional position to improve relationships with Latin America.”
Obama came to power offering to talk to US foes, including Cuba and Venezuela in the Western hemisphere, and vowing to tighten links with allies like Mexico and Brazil.
Some Democratic critics have said former US president George W. Bush’s administration took its eye off the region, leading to the rise in prominence of anti-US leaders like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Speaking after the meeting, Lula told reporters he called on Obama to improve ties with regional foes.
“I think in Latin America we need to construct a new relationship, a relationship of trust not interference,” he said.
Lula suggested to Obama that the two countries should work together to drive the spluttering Doha round of global trade talks to a conclusion and sympathized with him as he battled multiple crises.
“I also told President Obama that in the public rallies that I have in Brazil, I tell the Brazilian people, I’m praying more for him than I pray for myself,” Lula said. “Because with just 40 days in office to suffer and to face such a terrible crisis the US is facing today ... I don’t want to be in his position.”
Obama joked that Lula must have been talking to his wife Michelle, and delivered a warm endorsement of increasing US ties with Brazil, which is emerging as a weighty diplomatic and economic power.
“We have a very strong friendship between the two countries, but we can always make it stronger,” Obama said.
Obama also said he was looking forward to visiting Brazil and its famed beaches, soon, and quipped that his Republican foes might wish he would get lost in the Amazon.
Lula was the first Latin American leader to meet Obama, though the president did hold talks with Mexican President Felipe Calderon before his inauguration in January.
Two future summits weighed heavily over Saturday’s talks — the G20 meeting and the Summit of the Americas that Obama will attend in Trinidad and Tobago next month.
Lula made an impassioned plea for the rich nations of the world to consider unleashing a restorative wave of credit to poorer countries.
“The truth of the matter is that money has vanished and if we don’t supply the credit flow again, yes the crisis could deepen in our country,” Lula said.
Lula also worried about the impact of capital flow from less developed economies into investments that are seen as safer in volatile times.
“If there is some flight to buy Treasury bonds from countries like the United States, then we will have less money in our domestic market,” Lula said. “This is a problem that we will have to discuss at the G20 meeting.”
US officials and Brazilian officials pointed to the fact that Lula was the first Latin American leader to meet the new president as proof of Brazil’s rising prowess.
Brazil is targeting a permanent seat on an expanded UN Security Council and promoting itself as a voice in helping solve issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Meanwhile, the two leaders did not publicly mention a high profile custody dispute over eight-year-old American boy Sean Goldman who is in Brazil, though a White House official said Obama did bring up the case privately.
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