SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday he wants to discuss the possibility of making changes to the United Nations Security Council with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden.
Lula, who has long campaigned for Brazil and other countries to be permanently included in the council, is expected to meet Biden on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly next month in New York.
Last week, during a summit of the BRICS group of emerging nations in South Africa, the leftist leader called on fellow BRICS members China and Russia to support more countries entering the council as permanent members.
Lula says the council must reflect current global geopolitical conditions instead of those of the 1940s, suggesting that countries such as Brazil, India, Germany, Japan and South Africa should be made permanent members.
The Brazilian leader added in a live broadcast on social media that BRICS members have agreed to discuss until next year’s summit the possibility of establishing a common currency for trade between them.
He also said he hopes the Brazilian Congress will help his administration “protect the poorest, not the richest” in the country, after he signed an executive order to tax closed-end and offshore funds.
The measures, now pending congressional approval, are seen as essential for the government to boost public revenue and reach its commitment to zero primary deficit by next year, as they offset a revenue loss from expanded income tax exemptions for individuals.
Lula is widely expected to announce a cabinet reshuffle soon in order to secure more support for his administration in Congress, naming some members from centrist and center-right parties as ministers.
Creating a new ministry has been floated as a way to diversify his team without making major changes to the current cabinet, and Lula said on Tuesday he is now considering establishing a ministry of small- and medium-sized businesses.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Eduardo Simoes; Editing by Kylie Madry)
