Argentine and Brazilian officials have been meeting to discuss detailed plans for expanded bilateral and regional integration, which will be the focal point of their relationship once Brazil’s Lula da Silva takes power on Jan. 1. Brazil is Argentina’s number one trading partner (with China second), and the two economies are intertwined in many ways. Needless to say, expanded cooperation for development between these two nations and others in Ibero-America, especially Mexico, is anathema to London and Wall Street. The political and economic upheaval currently seen in many parts of the region—notably, Peru—is the doing of the City and the Street.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández will of course attend the inauguration on Jan. 1 in Brasilia and will welcome Lula to Buenos Aires on Jan. 24—as Lula makes Argentina the destination of his first foreign visit. Fernández, as rotating chair of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), will also welcome Brazil back into that important organization, one which Bolsonaro, as President, had abandoned. “Lula’s return can help to unite the continent once again, where globalization is in question,” Fernández said, according to BAE Negocios. “In CELAC, Brazil’s presence was lacking.”
