BRASILIA, (Reuters) – U. S. President Joe Biden is planning to send two top advisors to Brazil to meet President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva next week, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan and Latin America adviser Juan Gonzalez are expected to meet Lula in Brasilia on Dec. 5 and, according to one source, the meeting is intended to “reaffirm the partnership between the two countries.”
The agenda will also touch on Lula’s inauguration in January – which U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken may attend – and a possible trip by the president-elect to Washington in the first half of 2023.
Prior to the election, the U.S. government had already reached out to Lula’s campaign. Lula met with the U.S. embassy’s chargé d’affaires, Douglas Koneff, as recently as September.
Biden was one of the first heads of state to congratulate Lula on his victory against Jair Bolsonaro on the night of the election, in a move aimed to help avoid further questioning of the electoral system by the incumbent president.
