Lula wants to include Brazil, South Africa and India in the UN Security Council

Lula wants to include Brazil, South Africa and India in the UN Security Council

Currently, Russia and China are permanent members of the council.

By Paula Laboissière e Andreia Verdélio – Reporting

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended this Tuesday (22) that all countries that make up the Brics – a group currently formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – become permanent members at the United Nations Security Council. Currently, only Russia and China are on the board permanently. “We need to convince Russia and China that Brazil, South Africa and India can join the Security Council.”

In Johannesburg for the BRICS Summit, Lula also highlighted the entry of new members into the bloc. “This is a debate that we are going to have. Also, for us to allow the entry of new countries, we have to limit [the discussion] to a certain thing that everyone agrees on. If there is not a degree of commitment from the countries that join the Brics, it becomes a Tower of Babel. We are building this. I think that, from this meeting here, something very important should emerge about the entry of new countries. I am in favor of the entry of several countries. We will become stronger.”

In his weekly program Conversation with the President, Lula also mentioned the creation of a bank that acts differently from that of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “We want to create a very strong bank, one that is bigger than the IMF, but that has different criteria for lending money to countries. Not from suffocating, but from lending in the perspective that the country will create conditions to invest the money, develop and pay, without the payment atrophying the country’s finances”.

Financing
The president also defended the creation of a common currency for commercial transactions between the countries participating in the Brics and Mercosur, replacing the dollar. For him, this can be done without devaluing their own currencies.

“There are countries like Argentina that cannot buy dollars now. To sell to Brazil, they shouldn’t need dollars,” he said, commenting on the crisis in Argentina, also defending the South American country’s entry into the Brics. “It is possible for us to help Argentina with the yuan as currency”, added Lula.

In the program transmitted today by Canal Gov, Lula also commented on Brazil’s relationship with African countries, and said that Africa is the “continent of the future”. For him, it is necessary to discuss the external debt of African countries, which reaches US$ 800 billion, and transform it into investment capacity.

“The rich world needs to understand the need to guarantee the poorest countries the opportunities they haven’t had yet,” he said.

Earlier, Lula met with representatives of the African National Congress, Nelson Mandela’s party that currently governs the country. The president also met Brazilian members of the Brics Business Council and still participates today in an event at the Brics Business Forum and in a private meeting with heads of state and government of the bloc.