Lula defends multilateralism and the fight against extremism in a message to the diplomatic corps

On Tuesday, May 27, Brazil’s Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services Geraldo Alckmin took part in a ceremony celebrating Diplomat Day at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasília. The event marked the awarding of the Order of Rio Branco and graduation of the Rio Branco Institute’s Eunice Paiva Class.

The only solution is dialogue among parties. There is only understanding when there is respect for plurality. State relations cannot be at the mercy of political differences among governments"

LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA
President of Brazil

Alckmin transmitted President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s message highlighting the growing challenges to Brazilian diplomacy in an unstable global panorama. "It will be up to you to be diplomats in this era of denial of diplomacy. In politics, democracy is in danger. In diplomacy, unilateralism is growing," he said.

» Read President Lula’s full speech, read by Vice President Geraldo Alckmin (in Portuguese).

While reading the speech, Alckmin also drew attention to advancing extremism, and to the conflicts that put at risk the peaceful coexistence between peoples. "The only solution is dialogue among parties. State relations cannot be at the mercy of political differences between governments," he stressed.

CLIMATE CHANGE — The President also drew attention to the challenges imposed by climate change and global inequalities. According to Lula, defending a fairer international order necessarily involves strengthening multilateralism and joint action against hunger and poverty. "Spending USD 2.4 trillion a year on weapons while there are more than 730 million people facing food insecurity is inconceivable," he wrote.

REGIONAL INTEGRATION — The speech also highlighted Brazil's role in the search for collective solutions both at the regional and global levels. Lula mentioned the need to rebuild mechanisms of integration in South America, and criticized the marginalization of the Global South in international decisions. "Prosperity will remain a privilege of the few as long as the voices of the Global South are not properly represented in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund," he said.

Lula also reiterated the role of Brazilian diplomacy in defending democracy, human rights, and diversity. "Your role, as diplomats, implies taking to the outside front the battles we fight internally. We need to fight extremism and inequalities abroad with the same vigor with which we fight it here," he said.

At the end of the message, the President appealed for the plurality of the Brazilian people as an example on the international scene, and stressed that this diversity should be the mark of the country's diplomatic performance. "In a world that is replacing bridges with walls, this is the plurality that you will represent abroad," he concluded.

RIO BRANCO INSTITUTE — Created on April 18, 1945, the Rio Branco Institute (Instituto Rio Branco/IRBr) is responsible for training Brazilian diplomats. Founded in honor of the Baron of Rio Branco, patron of Brazilian diplomacy, the Institute has a central role in the preparation of the diplomats representing Brazil around the world.

Over almost 80 years, IRBr has been adapting its programs to the transformations of the international context, and to the demands of Brazilian foreign policy. "With today's ceremony, about 700 diplomats have already graduated over my three terms. They correspond to almost half of the 1,600 members of the Brazilian diplomatic corps," Lula highlighted in the message read by Alckmin.

The Institute offers training that combines a solid academic basis with practical training, developing in future diplomats the skills for the formulation and implementation of Brazil's foreign policy. "The Rio Branco Institute contributed decisively to the professionalism of the Brazilian foreign service, and was fundamental to the international insertion of the country," he added.