As he did in 2003, this year Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will attend both the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre and the World Economic Forum in Davos (both events take place between January 26 and 31).
This will be Lula’s fourth appearance at the Social Forum. In 2001 and 2002, he attended as a representative of a Brazilian NGO, the Citizenship Institute.
In 2003, after he became President, he participated as the head of state of the host country. In 2004, when the forum took place in Mumbai, India, Lula did not attend and the Brazilian delegation was led by the minister of Cities, Olívio Dutra.
Lula’s participation at the Social Forum this year will be different from his former appearances at the event when he spoke to large audiences.
This year he will speak at a conference on world poverty organized by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAAP), a South African group created at the end of last year, which congregates some 80 social movements from all over the world.
Lula went to the Economic Forum in 2003 after he was elected President of Brazil. He did not attend the forum last year.
According to presidential spokesman, Andre Singer, Lula is going to the Economic Forum this year to make proposals regarding international politics, economics and social problems for the period 2005 to 2006.
While he is in Davos, Lula will also attend a conference with international investors, similar to meetings he held in Geneva and New York last year.
Translation: Allen Bennett
Agência Brasil