President of Brazil, Lula da Silva has accepted the invitation extended by his Sri Lankan counterpart to visit Sri Lanka, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brazil said in a press release.

This was remarked by Secretary for Asia and Pacific of the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Eduardo Paes Saboia during the 76th anniversary of Independence Day reception held at the Sri Lankan embassy last week.

Ambassador Saboia further stated that President Lula da Silva is enthusiastic to undertake his official visit to Sri Lanka in due course.

He recalled the constructive interactions that the leaders of Sri Lanka and Brazil had in Dubai on the sidelines of COP28 in December 2023, adding that there will be more opportunities to further strengthen bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two nations in 2024.

In his address, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Brazil Sumith Dassanayake highlighted the significant elevation of relations between Sri Lanka and Brazil since holding the first round of Political Consultations in November 2022. As a result, a high-level technical team from Brazil undertook an official visit to Sri Lanka in June 2023 with a view to providing Brazilian technical assistance for the development and capacity building of Sri Lanka’s Dairy and Sugarcane industries. The relevant Agreement is to be signed shortly between the Embassy and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) in Brasilia implementing the above proposal.

Ambassador Dassanayake also stated that the Embassy had a number of interactions to increase Sri Lanka’s relations with the other South American countries such as Chile, Colombia and Argentina which includes the visit of 12-member leading Ceylon Tea exporting companies to Chile in October 2023. At present Ceylon Tea is the market leader in Chile.

He also noted that Sri Lanka managed the economic crisis that the country faced in 2022, very effectively.  Political stability has also been restored and accordingly, Sri Lanka being one of the oldest functioning democracies in Asia, the major elections such as Presidential and General elections are scheduled to be held in due course.

(President Ranil Wickremesinghe met with Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva on the sidelines of UN COP28 Climate Change Conference in Dubai on Dec.02, 2023.)