French President Emmanuel Macron and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are meeting this week to revive the bilateral relationship after years of frictions with Lula’s predecessor,Jair Bolsonaro,and deepen cooperation to protect the rainforest and boost trade.
Macron started his three-day visit to Brazil in the Amazon city of Belem,where he met Lula,a long-time ally. He then took a boat to the Combu island to meet with Indigenous leaders.
Both Macron and Lula saw a protest by Greenpeace Brazil with banners that read “No oil in the Amazon”. The Brazilian government has contemplated allowing the tapping of oil in a region close to the Para state,where Belem lies.
“Gathered in Belem,in the heart of the Amazon,we,Brazil and France,Amazonian countries,have decided to join forces to promote an international roadmap for protection of tropical forests,” they said in a joint statement.
Their pledge to work together to stop deforestation in the Amazon by 2030 to contribute to slowing global warming.
“The presidents expressed their commitment to the conservation,restoration and sustainable management of the world’s tropical forests and agreed to work on an ambitious agenda,including ... developing innovative financial instruments,market mechanisms and payments for environmental services,” the statement said.