President Milanović on Economic Cooperation with Brazil: We cannot produce as much as they need

“Here the main talk was about politics, peace initiatives, but we see how that has been working in the last few days. There is no chance that some hotheads will calm down and I’m not an optimist,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said on Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, where he continued his official visit to Brazil. The President added that he did not talk a lot about economic cooperation with the Brazilian leaders, explaining that Croatia “cannot produce as much as they need. What we produce, we mainly sell domestically or in the European Union and that’s good, although it could be better.”

Commenting on his meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brasilia yesterday, President Milanović said Lula was “one of the world leaders.” “He is a visible man, upright, he has some of his ideological quirks with which you may or may not fully agree. But, in any case, he is a man who is at the helm of a huge country and who advocates things which are human, which are not directed against anyone, which are for peace, for cooperation among nations, without prejudice, everything that should be close to everyone in our Western civilisation, to Christian parties as well as liberal and social democratic ones. Conversations with such people are important things,” said President Milanović.

Today in Rio de Janeiro, President Milanović also met with the Governor of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Cástro. “I think it is good to meet the main leaders and the most important people of Brazil’s federal and regional politics,” he said after the meeting in the Governor’s Palace. After meeting with the Governor, the President also met with the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes.

Ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with the representatives of the Croatian community in Brazil, who are expecting the Croatian President on Wednesday in São Paulo, the President said: “It’s always a pleasure! This is a huge country and Croats are established there, but they are not as visible as in Chile. I am looking forward to meeting with the people. I recognized some of them, whom I saw ten years ago, at yesterday’s luncheon with President Lula.”

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta