Lula da Silva says the IMF should convert African debt into investment in infrastructure

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is on his first two-day visit to Angola, was speaking at the closing of the Angolan-Brazilian Economic Forum, which gathered nearly five hundred participants.

The Brazilian head of state said that African countries owe the International Monetary Fund about 800 billion dollars, wondering why the financial institution and the developed world did not “conclude an agreement and not convert the debts of the African continent into funds for investment in development instead of converting them into funds.” pay for it.”

“The implementation of the work that still needs to be done on the African continent, especially the energy issue, this discussion is what we have to do, because if we think everything is normal, we will not see things change,” he stressed.

And the Brazilian president considered that it was “not normal” for people to be born poor and die poor, just like their grandchildren.

“Come and invest in Angola, which was once a country that was raped and a lot of diamonds that this country produced were stolen. I don’t know how much money these diamonds made for Angola or the money six smart people made.” Lula da Silva said, also referring to Angola’s riches in gold, oil, gas and agriculture.

The head of state called for a better distribution of wealth: “While one person eats ten times a day and the other does not eat anything, it will not work, we are creating a poor society.”

He told Angolan businessmen that Brazil had returned to the African continent “for real” and added that the country wanted to finance Angola again, which had been a “good motive” for Brazilian investments.

“Angola has always been a country that has assured us that every dollar invested here will be compensated, and it has done so, because this country here is not the result of a ruler’s drawing, this country is the result of a very bloody struggle, not only because we are victorious,” Lula da Silva said. on independence, and then build the country later.”

The Brazilian president defended the repetition of this type of forum in all the African countries he visits, because politicians do not know how to discuss investment, and they only know “opening doors”.

Lula da Silva added that Brazil has turned away from Africa “because of a lack of a long-term vision or a lack of speed, and the belief that the investment should pay a return the next day.”