President of Brazil, Luis Inazio Lula da Silva, and his wife, Rosângela da Silva, received this week, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Club in Madrid Members Michelle Bachelet, Aminata Touré and Laura Chinchilla to discuss, among other issues, the importance of women’s participation in politics.
The meeting was also attended by the Minister for Women, Cida Gonçalves, and the Chief Advisor to the President of the Federal Republic of Brazil, Celso Amorim. It was held in the framework of the Annual Policy Dialogue 2023 (APD) “Rethinking Social Development for People and Planet”, which took place on 13-14 November in Brasilia, for the first time in the Global South.
During the meeting, our Members spoke with President Lula about the importance of women in democracy and the promotion of initiatives to increase women’s political participation and reduce gender inequality.
This meeting was the prelude to an event entitled “Women in Power“, which was held at the Planalto Palace that same afternoon and attended by our members, Rosângela da Silva, Cida Gonçalves and other senior Brazilian personalities such as Marina Silva, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, or Benedita da Silva, a symbol for being the first Afro-Brazilian woman governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and Minister.
The Brazilian authorities thanked Club of Madrid for holding its Annual Policy Dialogue in the country and assured that the Government is committed to the issues that were discussed during the event and that are part of its agenda. They also highlighted the Club de Madrid’s work in favour of democracy, as did Minister Mauro Vieira during his intervention at the opening session of the Policy Dialogue. Vieira thanked Club of Madrid for speaking out when democracy came under attack in Brazil earlier this year.
Around 20 Members of Club of Madrid – all of them former Presidents or democratically elected Prime Ministers – have gathered these days in Brasilia as part of the organisation’s efforts to support the advancement of urgent ecological, political and social reforms in a unified and coherent way.
The main proposals and recommendations resulting from this Policy Dialogue will be discussed in the main multilateral fora until the Social Summit in 2025 (United Nations (UNGA 2023-2025, Summit of the Future 2024, COP 28 and 29, Social Summit 2025), G20 Brazil and South Africa, and the European Presidencies of Spain, 2024 and 2025).
