MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula calls for peace in Middle East and Ukraine

“Right now, there are two ongoing conflicts that could engulf the entire world. So we have to work together to resolve them,” Lula said

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Wednesday urged the international community, during his telematic appearance at the BRICS Summit in Kazan (Russia), to resolve the armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Lula made these statements after his special envoy, Celso Amorim, met in New York with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and agreed to form, together with other countries of the Global South, a “Friends of Peace” platform. “Right now there are two ongoing conflicts that could engulf the whole world. So we have to work together to solve them,” said Lula.

Back in May, China and Brazil proposed holding an international peace conference “at the appropriate time” with equal participation of all parties to discuss peace plans. In September, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Moscow welcomed the Sino-Brazilian peace initiative.

And on Wednesday in Kazan, Russian presidential adviser for international affairs Yuri Ushakov pointed out that “we believe that the initiative is useful, and our president [Vladimir Putin] has talked about it, in particular during his contacts with both Lula and [Chinese President] Xi Jinping.”

The Ukrainian issue is only discussed in detail with some of the participants in the BRICS Summit. Putin met privately with Xi on the sidelines of the event and both discussed the issue on the phone with Lula.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres arrived Wednesday in the Russian city in the Volga region to participate in the convention. Upon landing, he was greeted at the airport by Farid Mukhametshin, chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The BRICS group was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2011. On Jan. 1, 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates became full members. Argentina had also been admitted, but subsequently declined the opportunity following the inauguration of Libertarian President Javier Milei.