Speech by President Lula - opening of the “Ovídio de Andrade Melo” Gallery at Guimarães Rosa Institute

On this second day of this historic visit to Angola, we are going to focus on culture and education.

Today we open the Ovídio de Andrade Melo Gallery at the Guimarães Rosa Institute in Luanda, a place that is so full of meaning and history.

The Institute is housed in a building that was built in the 1920s to be the Grande Hotel Luanda.

It hosted the colonial elite for decades until the War of Independence.

It was later converted into a shelter for those who had been displaced by the violence in the northern provinces.

In 2014, the Eduardo dos Santos Foundation and the Brazilian Government adopted the mutual concession of real estate.

In Baixa dos Sapateiros, in Salvador, we conceded Casa de Angola.

In Baixa de Luanda, here in the Coqueiros neighborhood, we received the building in which the Institute is located.

Today, in this place, we honor Ambassador Ovídio de Andrade Melo.

This great Brazilian diplomat and humanist was outstanding in his courage.

Even while facing difficult political circumstances in Brazil, he supported the struggle of the Angolan people for their independence.

Along his extensive diplomatic career, ever accompanied by his wife Ivony, he was also in charge of other important endeavors.

Ovídio took part in the negotiations of the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which made Latin America and the Caribbean a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.

He was a talented memoirist and painter who left an important cultural legacy.

This Institute, the result of cooperation with Brazil, is a dynamic place where our cultures meet.

Here, different generations of Brazilian and Angolan intellectuals and artists contribute to Luanda's cultural scene.

Today distinguished people such as Pepetela, Irene A'Mosi and Ondjaki are present.

Former Angolan students from exchange programs with Brazil are also here.

Many of them are senior government officials and important civil society and private sector leaders.

Brazil's return to Africa will also take place along the paths of culture.

We are going to recreate the Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, an event that we held in Senegal in 2004 and in Salvador in 2006.

This event brought together intellectuals from both sides of this “river called the Atlantic” – an expression coined by a great Brazilian Africanist, Ambassador Alberto da Costa e Silva.

As part of the preparations for the 50 years of diplomatic relations between our countries, in 2025 we are going to repeat this conference in Luanda and Salvador.

Presently harboring around 30,000 Brazilian people, Angola is already home to our largest community in Africa.

This is why I instructed Chancellor Mauro Vieira to study opening a Consulate General in Luanda – the first in a Portuguese-speaking country in Africa.

I want to close with a quote by Camões Prize winner Pepetela:

“There is nothing worse in man than a lack of imagination.
It the same in marriage, it's the same in politics.
Life is constant creation.”

As I have repeated, in relations between Brazil and Angola, we need to dream big and dream far.

Thank you very much.