France minister visits Brazil's Lula amid push for better ties post-Bolsonaro

Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira greets French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna during a news conference at Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

BRASILIA (Reuters) - France's foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday in a visit resetting relations following a feud between the two countries' presidents in 2019.

It was the first French ministerial visit to Brazil since 2019 when Lula's far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, angered by President Emmanuel Macron's criticism of his handling of forest fires in the Amazon, mocked the French leader's wife on Facebook.