President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will meet in Egypt this Thursday with representatives of the Norwegian and German governments, the main financiers of the Amazon Fund. According to the column, the purpose of the meeting is to give concrete signals to the two European countries that Brazil wants to urgently re-establish the mechanism established to cooperate in the fight against deforestation in the very country.
Speaking at the UN Climate Change Conference on Wednesday, Lula stressed that Brazil wants and needs help to tackle deforestation. This is a completely different position from the tone used by President Jair Bolsonaro, who insisted on excluding any foreign involvement and liquidated cooperation mechanisms.
However, Lula makes it clear that any foreign initiative cannot pose any threat to sovereignty and that the piloting of the mechanism will be left to Brazil.
The first of the talks to be held in Sharm El Sheikh this Thursday will be with the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. The Oslo government announced the day after the PT’s victory that it wanted to restart the fundraising process. The gesture was hailed as an important guarantee for election and new assignment.
Already at that moment, Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide approved the return of the money. We will talk to his (Lula) team to prepare the formalities and create a management structure.” “There are significant sums frozen in an account in the Amazon Fund in Brazil that can be paid out quickly,” Barth Eide said in an interview with NTB.
The two countries had established the largest international cooperation fund managed by the BNDES and the institutions in Oslo, with a budget of more than US$ 1 billion during the Lula government. But in 2019, the government of Jair Bolsonaro made new demands that led Norway and Germany to end the resource transfer.
“There was a huge increase in deforestation during the Bolsonaro era, and it’s very worrying. Anyone concerned about the climate has painfully seen how he completely violated old agreements and promises,” said Barth Eide.
“This is an important day. It is good for Brazil as well as for the whole world,” said the minister in Oslo. Barth Eide agrees that Lula will not have an easy government, given the situation in Congress.
Lula will also be with German Foreign Minister Annelena Baerbock, who signaled the return of Berlin’s resources to the deforestation mechanism.
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.