PUTRAJAYA: Trade between Brazil and Malaysia at USD6 bil is too low and political will must be used to expand investments, said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
He said this during a joint media conference at the Seri Perdana Complex here on Saturday (Oct 25) after an official welcome at the Perdana Putra Complex followed by a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
President Lula, as he is popularly known, is in Malaysia for a three day official visit as Guest of the Chair of Asean in conjunction with the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits.
This is Lula’s first official visit to Malaysia since assuming office for a new term in January 2023.
“I can't imagine that Brazil and Malaysia only have a trade of USD6bil, there is something wrong with our business sectors and government for that is such a low trade,” he said.
“A lack of leadership will make everything get worse. We need Malaysia and Malaysia needs Brazil and we, Anwar and I, will have to take care of that. We have to exchange concerns and share what we can transfer to each other,” added President Lula.
“Even dances can be exchanged,” he said.
“It is unthinkable that no Brazilian president had set foot here for 30 years, but there is always a first time for everything,” said President Lula.
He also paid tribute to the struggle of Anwar and him being persecuted before they were elected leaders of their countries.
“We have been persecuted and we have returned as leaders of our countries. I did not come here only to trade, but to tell Anwar that we can change the world and to tell the world that it needs peace, not war,” he said.
President Lula added that the world needs free trade and not protectionism, more food and fewer weapons.
“I was born in a small town where people died of starvation but I survived. I ate my first piece of bread at the age of seven and this made me obsessed with taking care of the poor as the poor tend to be invisible,” he said.
President Lula then added that the national budgets of each country should be dedicated to the poor to solve basic problems of meals, education and shelter and then said that these do not cost much.
“When I took over in 2003, we had 54 million people in hunger and in 2014, the UN recognised Brazil as out of the hunger map. It is possible and the easiest thing to do is to take care of the poor as that does not cost much,” he said.
“It may look like a lot but it is a priority definition and defining choices of who you want to govern,” added President Lula.
“Never forget your origin and you should not be ashamed to walk with your head high for taking care of the people, rather than getting Nobel prizes, as taking care of the poor is a commandment of God,” he said.
“Respected leaders are loved by the people but a feared leader may be hated by the people,” said Lula.
He also said that allowing the genocide in Gaza which uses hunger as a weapon is a travesty.
“How can we conform with genocide in Gaza, which uses not only violence with weapons but violence with hunger We are not then human beings if we accept this,” said President Lula.
Earlier, Malaysia's Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Brazil's Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services Geraldo Alckmin exchanged an MoU on cooperation in the semiconductor industry.
The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministers of Malaysia and Brazil, Chang Lih Kang and Luciana Santos, exchanged an MoU between MDE Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais and MIMOS on semiconductors.
The chairman of ISIS Malaysia Prof Dr Mohd Faiz Abdullah and Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira exchanged the Memorandum of Understanding between ISIS Malaysia and FUNAG, the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation.
Vieira and the Director General of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations Malaysia Datuk Zainol Rahim Zainuddin also exchanged Notes on Diplomatic Training.
The Director General of Mardi Malaysia, Datuk Dr Mohd Zabawi Abdul Ghani, exchanged a letter of intent with Brazil's Agriculture and Livestock Minister, Carlos Favaro.
