Brasilia, Sept 14 (EFE).- Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his American counterpart, Joe Biden, will use next week’s United Nations (UN) General Assembly to launch a global initiative for “decent work” in the 21st century, according to official sources.
The issue has been discussed by the two leaders for several months, and both want to take advantage of the UN Assembly to launch it,” said Carlos Márcio Cozendey, Secretary for Multilateral and Political Affairs at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, on Thursday.
“This is a global initiative to defend labor rights in the 21st century that Brazil and the United States want to promote and hope other countries will join,” the diplomat said in a briefing.
According to the official, the idea is that the signatory countries will promote an agenda of discussions and action programs to promote “decent work” with the support of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Cozendey said that Lula’s agenda for bilateral meetings in New York has not yet been defined, but that it is possible that he will meet with Biden before the launch of the initiative.
Defending the labor rights of digital platform workers is one of the flagships of Lula’s third term as president, a former union leader and founder of the Workers’ Party (PT).
Biden has also spoken out against the precarization of work, which is one of his campaign banners for the 2024 presidential election.
According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Lula will travel to Cuba on Friday to attend the G77 summit, and on Saturday he will travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
The Brazilian president will be the first to speak in the debates of the heads of state at the UN Assembly, which begins on Tuesday.
Lula will remain in New York until Thursday, as he plans to attend two summits convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, one on the Sustainable Development Goals and another on climate change, as well as several bilateral meetings.
According to Cozendey, Lula’s participation in the UN meeting will crown the process of Brazil’s return to international forums since the progressive leader took office in January.
Lula has already participated in the G-7, G-20 and BRICS summits, as well as the Global Financial Pact in Paris, where he brought together the heads of state of the European Union (EU) and Latin American countries.
The president will also use his speech before the other heads of state to review the main issues of his foreign policy, mainly in relation to the agendas of social inclusion, human rights and global governance.
For the same reason, Lula will once again defend the reform of multilateral organizations, especially the UN Security Council, so that emerging countries like Brazil can have greater participation. EFE
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