The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held a telephone conversation on Monday in which they agreed to design a roadmap aimed at intensifying bilateral ties, with special attention to the defense sector.
"We agreed to create a Strategic Council, at the level of vice presidents, to outline a roadmap that allows us to deepen bilateral relations," Lula stated in a message on social media in which he highlighted that both leaders celebrated the "recent ratification" by Ankara and Brasília of the Defense Industry Cooperation Agreement.
"I affirmed that Brazil intends to increase investments in the defense sector and expressed interest in fostering collaborations between Brazilian and Turkish companies in this sector," emphasized the head of the Planalto.
During the call, Lula committed to sending an official Brazilian mission to Turkey led by his Ministers of Defense and Development, Industry and Commerce, José Múcio and Márcio Elias Rosa, respectively.
Finally, the Brazilian president explained that his Turkish counterpart invited him to participate in COP31 on climate change, scheduled for next November. "I thanked him, accepted the invitation, and expressed my desire to meet with him soon," Lula concluded.