The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has confirmed that he will finally fly to Madrid to hold a meeting with the head of the Spanish Executive, Pedro Sánchez, once his participation in the Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has concluded. The trip is maintained despite the PSOE having suspended the joint event scheduled for Monday due to a hoarseness that affects the Brazilian leader.
Lula has communicated his decision after taking part in the aforementioned summit, where he has already held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada and is also scheduled to interview the Prime Minister of Singapore as part of his international agenda.
"Each international mission opens up opportunities to strengthen our relations and reaffirm Brazil’s place in the world," the Brazilian president said in a posting on social media, in which he also reported his departure "heading to Madrid." After his trip through Spain, it is expected that he will return to Brazil to resume his work schedule next week.
The announcement by Lula comes after sources from the Spanish Government confirmed this Saturday the cancellation of the campaign event that was to be held on Monday, November 16, in Madrid due to a vocal problem of the Brazilian leader, although they stressed that the institutional visit to La Moncloa remains on the same date.
This will be the first time that Lula visits Spain officially since he won the Brazilian presidential elections of October 25 last year, defeating Flávio Bolsonaro. At the bilateral meeting, both leaders will discuss the status of relations between Brazil and Spain, as well as coordination in global initiatives such as Democracia Siempre and the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.
The trip to Madrid takes place shortly after the XXX Ibero-American Summit, also held in the Spanish capital, which Lula ultimately did not attend, citing exhaustion resulting from the intense election campaign in his country.