Upon Sisi’s invitation, Brazil’s Lula to visit Egypt on February 15-16

CAIRO – 8 February 2024: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will embark on an African tour that includes Egypt and Ethiopia next week, according to a statement by the Brazilian Presidential Website on Thursday.

It is scheduled that Lula’s two-day visit to Egypt, which comes upon President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s invitation, will start on February 15, the statement added.

“When he was president-elect, Lula was invited by President El-Sisi to go to COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh. The president attended and announced the guidelines of his foreign policy—Brazil's return to international forums and reconfigured priorities there. The trip also highlighted the 100 years of diplomatic relations between Brazil and Egypt, celebrated this year (2022),” said Ambassador Carlos Duarte, secretary of Africa and the Middle East in Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Duarte noted that Egypt is a strategic partner to Brazil and that their relations have recently strengthened after a group of Brazilian citizens exited from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing. He added that Egypt is also one of Brazil's main trading partners in Africa. “It is a strong and diversified trade, especially in agricultural products,” he said.

Duarte hoped that the Egyptian government would approve the new importation of beef from Brazil, pointing out that Egypt opened its market for Brazilian products of fish, poultry, cotton, gelatin, and collagen in 2023.

He also revealed that the two countries will discuss ways to open a new direct air route between São Paulo and Cairo.

After his two-day visit to Egypt, Lula will head on February 17 to Addis Ababa, where he will participate in the African Union Summit.

During the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop 27) in the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh, Lula gave a speech reaffirming his intention to set his nation on a path to "defeat deforestation and global warming."