President Lula Hopes For Balanced Trade Deal With EU

Wires carrying comments from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on an EU-Mercosur trade deal, following a meeting today in Brasilia with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

• Lula's said, per Reuters, he "'hopes for a balanced Mercosur-EU trade deal,' that could support Brazil's push for reindustrialization and sustainable development."
• Last week, at an event in Sao Paulo, Lula pledged to protect Brazilian small and medium sized businesses in any future free-trade agreement with the EU, and warned that, due to his resistance to unfavorable terms, "we will take a little longer to close the agreement but, just as France fervently defends its agricultural products, we are going to defend small industry."
• Lula also firmly stated his opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and reiterated to Niinistö Brazil's position "in favour of Ukraine's territorial integrity."
• Lula says Brazil, "has always been critical of Russia's territorial occupation of Ukraine. We're trying to create the opportunity for peace talks when and Ukraine are ready... Brazil is part of a group of countries that want to remain neutral to be able to broker peace."