MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula da Silva organizes a smooth transition for president-elect Rousseff

Ever-active outgoing president Lula da Silva

Brazil's President Lula da Silva asked his cabinet to do everything possible to help president-elect Dilma Rousseff transition smoothly into power.

“Today's meeting was to ask you to work hard and well in order to facilitate the transition between my outgoing administration and the new one. We also need to provide easy access to all kinds of government information that the new administration might require,” Lula da Silva said to his cabinet during the opening speech at the Government Planalto palace.

Rousseff, a former chief of staff under outgoing President Lula da Silva, was elected with an overwhelming majority on Sunday's presidential election run-off and has already named a market-friendly transition team early this week to prepare for government, but will take several days off to rest from a long campaign.

Lula da Silva also confirmed that he will create a “Transitional Committee” by decree, which will be in charge of the transition process. The committee will be coordinated by the Presidential Ministry.

Furthermore, Lula da Silva used the meeting to ask his cabinet to prepare and hand him a list with new works and projects to be inaugurated before his period ends in December.

The Brazilian president also remarked that even though Rousseff “has come to continue and deepen my administration, not a single cabinet member has a job post within Dilma's administration assured” and he added, “the next government will have its own face, and that's Dilma's face”.

During the meeting, the ministers also discussed the country's political agenda for Lula da Silva's last two months in power, as well the topics that the Head of State will address at next week's G-20 summit in South Korea. Lula da Silva is scheduled to travel to Seoul with president elect Rousseff.

In addition, Brazil's Economy Minister, Guido Mantega, said he expects the economy to grow anything between 7.5 to 8% this year, thus reaching the nation's largest expansion period in the past 25 years.