President Lula Lauds PM

President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, His Excellency Luiz Inacia ‘Lula’ da Silva has said that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s visit to Brazil last year, served as a milestone in the strengthening of relations between both countries.

President da Silva, who was speaking at the closing of the Brazil/ Jamaica business forum and seminar on (Aug. 9) at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston, said that Mrs. Simpson Miller’s address at the 2nd Conference of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora in the South American country helped to highlight some of the barriers that people of colour still have to overcome.

“Your presence, when you visited Bahia to participate in the meeting on Africa and the Diaspora, was a milestone in our relations of friendship. what you did in Bahia when you spoke was to really set off the lines that have to be crossed for black people to gain respect in the world,” he stated.

During her three-day visit to Brazil in July 2006, the Prime Minister reiterated Jamaica’s long and enduring contribution and commitment to Africa’s liberation and development.

The Brazilian President visited Jamaica from Wednesday, August 8 to Thursday, August 9, as part of efforts to deepen cooperation between both countries.