MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Iranian leader Ahmadinejad will be visiting Brazil next November

Lula da Silva will be travelling to Iran next May

Brazilian President Lula da Silva confirmed his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to visit Brasilia in November, while he plans to travel to Teheran in May, Brazilian media reported Thursday.

“I have nothing to do with what other presidents think. I do not know whether they like him (Ahmadinejad) or not. I am meeting with him because he is the president of a great nation and we talk as heads of state. This is not a friends' club“ Lula da Silva told the daily O Globo.

Lula da Silva said that Ahmadinejad had assured him that Iran's nuclear program only sought peaceful goals.

”I do not take rumours into account ... so far there is nothing that can serve to reject the conclusion that Iran wants (nuclear) technology for peaceful ends“.

However, the Brazilian president advised Ahmadinejad to allow international supervision. “International sanctions can be painful and distressing”, he warned.

The two presidents met this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Lula da Silva also minimized the massive protests against the recent elections in Iran that have been questioned by the opposition and rioting in the streets.

While acknowledging that Iranians had the right to protest the election won by Ahmadinejad, Lula da Silva said: ”In Brazil we also have people who do not accept electoral defeats. I lost three elections before I won my first one, and I was okay with that. In Iran, 85% of the people voted”.

He added the Iranian opposition can protest as much as they want, “but what right do I have as President of Brazil to question election results in Iran?”

Lula da Silva insisted he had no constraints about meeting with his peer Ahmadinejad and said Brazil has many things to negotiate with Iran, “I feel no constraints at all about meeting with Ahmadinejad”.

“Iran is a leading global producer of oil, so we have much to talk about” said Lula da Silva recalling that a delegation of businessmen headed by Development, Industry and Trade minister Miguel Jorge is ready to leave for Teheran “to asses reciprocal investment possibilities and trade opportunities”.