Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was speaking after the reception ceremony of his Angolan counterpart, João Lourenço, stressed that this is the first state visit he has made to an African country in this mandate and that it symbolizes "Brazil's return to Africa".
"We started with a country that has always been the greatest bridge for this sister continent. In recent years, unfortunately, Brazil has treated African countries with indifference, for the first time we have had a President of the Republic who has not made any visits to Africa, embassies were closed on the continent and cooperation was abandoned," he said.
The Brazilian head of state said that his country had stopped acting with Angola on the international stage, referring to the governance of his predecessor, and stated that he wanted to raise the strategic partnership to a new level.
"Brazil wants to support Angola in the effort to diversify its economy, our trade is one of the widest and most diverse", assured the Brazilian statesman, who is on his first day of state visit to Angola, which runs until Saturday.
Lula da Silva also underlined that his country's bilateral trade "has fallen drastically since 2015, but in the first half of that year alone it has already grown by almost 65 percent compared to the same period last year."
