Brasília – United States president Barack Obama called his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff this Tuesday (28th) to congratulate her on her re-election. During the call, Obama said the poll was a display of Brazil’s “solid democracy” and that he intends to continue working with the Brazilian leader, whom he expects to meet at the G20 Australia summit on November 15th and 16th. The information was released by the press office of the Brazilian Presidency. The phone call lasted ten minutes.
Obama said he values his country’s bilateral ties with Brazil and envisions great opportunities for cooperation in the economic-financial and energy areas. The US president suggested staff from both countries should “work on the existing mechanisms to set the agenda for 2015, paving the way for an official visit of the Brazilian president to the United States in due time."
Last year, Rousseff cancelled an official visit to the United States following former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden’s allegations that the agency had been spying on Brazilian government officials, including the president herself and state-owned companies. Obama said his vice president, Joe Biden, had made very positive remarks about his meeting with president Rousseff during a visit to Brazil, on occasion of the FIFA World Cup.
According to her press office, the Brazilian president thanked Obama for his compliments and said her re-election is important to Brazil and the entire region. Rousseff said she is keenly interested in building closer ties with the United States, and that she will be pleased to meet him at the G20 summit. Rousseff also agreed on the importance of bilateral work to set the stage for an official visit to the USA.
Aside from Obama, Rousseff has received a phone call this Tuesday (28th) from the president of Guinea-Bissau, José Mário Vaz, who also congratulated her on the re-election and wished her success in her new term. In a five-minute conversation, Rousseff acknowledged the compliments and said relations with Africa will remain a high priority throughout her second term. She added that she will keep supporting the consolidation of democracy and economic and social development in Guinea-Bissau.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
