Lula’s return could boost Brazil’s ties with GCC and Arab world

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn in as Brazil’s president on Sunday. Lula is returning to the presidency after a 12-year hiatus. He served two four-year terms between 2003 and 2010, during which he managed to assert Brazil’s leadership in South America and globally, including in the Gulf and the wider Arab world. His economic, political and diplomatic successes were unprecedented in Brazil’s history. His third term, which started this week, has the promise of reigniting the energy behind Brazil’s growing role in this region and elsewhere.
His rise to power in 2003 and his return now are the stuff of legend. He hails from Pernambuco, an underdeveloped province in the northeast of Brazil. He grew up poor in Sao Paulo and did not go to college, but worked his way up as a manual laborer, becoming a union leader and helping to start an important workers’ party. He led major strikes and calls for the end of military rule in Brazil, which lasted from 1964 to 1985.
Known for his tenacity, Lula ran for president and lost three times, before winning in his fourth attempt in 2002, in another hard-fought campaign. He was reelected in 2006, also in a tough race.
His two terms in office transformed Brazil domestically and abroad. Social safety net programs were expanded, helping 20 million Brazilians escape poverty and eradicating hunger in many parts of the country, leading Brazil to leave the UN’s Hunger Map.
Economic growth was unprecedented, increasing fivefold during his two terms in office. According to World Bank data, Brazil’s gross domestic product rose from $510 billion in 2002, the year before he took office, to $2.62 trillion in 2011, an increase of 513 percent.
Despite this phenomenal economic expansion, government debt shrank and rates of inflation and unemployment also fell. Social indicators improved, as indices of poverty, inequality, illiteracy, infant mortality and child labor dropped. Minimum wages rose and, with them, so did per capita income and the rates of schooling, university attendance and access to healthcare.
His success at home was also reflected in foreign policy achievements. He was one of the principal founders of BRICS as a political and economic grouping. In its first meeting in 2006 in New York, Brazil was one of the four original members of the group, together with Russia, India and China. Lula attended the first BRICS summit in 2009 and remained as one of its key pillars.

Part of Lula’s enduring appeal is his economic genius, political astuteness and diplomatic savvy.

Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg

His background as a leftist trade unionist did not stand in the way of his diplomatic effectiveness in the Gulf or in the Arab world at large. In 2005, he convened the first Arab-South American Summit in Brasilia, creating great momentum in cultivating economic and political ties with this region. GCC-Brazil trade was minimal in 2002, but had nearly quadrupled by the end of his second term. He traveled through the region and personally oversaw the growth of economic ties here, bringing with him scores of business leaders, some of whom were introduced to the region for the first time by Lula.
Despite his remarkable success at home and abroad, Lula’s presidency was marred by accusations of corruption, which were exploited by his political rivals after he left office. In 2017, he was convicted of money laundering and corruption, and sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison. He served almost two years, which disqualified him from running for office again. However, his trial was noted for serious irregularities and credible charges of being politically motivated and manipulated. Finally, in 2021, after a lengthy legal battle, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court nullified all of his convictions and restored his political rights, enabling him to run for president again. Late last year, he defeated the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the second round of voting.

Part of Lula’s enduring appeal is his economic genius, political astuteness and diplomatic savvy, as seen by his supporters at home. After he left office at the end of 2010, Brazil’s economy started to decline. After the peak of $2.6 trillion in 2011, GDP fell drastically to $1.61 trillion in 2021, recovering somewhat to $1.89 trillion in 2022, but still more than 27 percent below that peak. During his absence, Brazil’s politics descended into chaos, as the world witnessed its clumsy handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its contrarian policies on climate change and the preservation of Brazil’s massive Amazon rainforest. Its international standing suffered as a result.
Lula’s return to power promises to return Brazil’s relations with the Gulf and the wider Arab world to their golden age. For one thing, his predecessor’s support for Israel’s most extreme policies was in sharp contrast to Lula’s even-handed approach to the Palestine-Israel conflict. Second, it is quite likely that he will fulfill his campaign promises to reverse his predecessor’s anti-environment and anti-vaccine policies. And finally, many expect that his interest in growing trade and investment ties with the Gulf and cultural engagement with the Arab world will shape Brazil’s policy toward the region.

• Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation, and a columnist for Arab News. The views expressed in this piece are personal and do not necessarily represent GCC views.
Twitter: @abuhamad1