Bolsonaro goes to the UN General Assembly without relevant bilaterals on the agenda

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) will travel next Monday (19) to New York, in the United States, to participate in the United Nations General Assembly, an event that brings together the main leaders of the world and in which, traditionally, the Brazil makes the opening speech.

Unlike in previous years, however, Bolsonaro will not have parallel meetings with heads of government from countries in Western Europe or North America, which are considered to be of greater weight on the international stage.

So far, meetings between the Brazilian and the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, have been confirmed; from Guatemala, Alejandro Giammatte; from Poland, Andrzej Duda; and from Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. Bolsonaro is also expected to meet with the UN Secretary-General, the Portuguese António Guterres.

In his meeting with Guterres, Bolsonaro should address the Ukrainian War, the food crisis in the world and the recovery of national economies in the post-pandemic period. Another central topic in the conversation will be the reform of the United Nations Security Council – the permanent vacancy in the collegiate is an old demand of Brazilian diplomacy.

Last year, the president met with then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the eve of the Assembly’s opening in New York. On the occasion, they dealt with vaccination programs against Covid-19 and preparations for COP26, held later in Scotland.

The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs played down the significance of the agenda, which is lacking in relevance due to the lack of meetings with heads of government from countries with more geopolitical influence.

Itamaraty’s secretary for multilateral political affairs, Ambassador Paulino de Carvalho Neto, attributed the lack of more significant names in Bolsonaro’s script to the incompatibility of the agenda, since the president will spend little time in American territory, and to the possibility that other important meetings will take place the day before, in London, during the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II – which will also be attended by several world leaders, including Bolsonaro.

The meeting with the Polish Duda in this year’s edition of the General Assembly repeats an agenda from last year. On the occasion, Bolsonaro met with the nationalist and ultraconservative leader, known for his measures against press freedom and against the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.

In 2020, due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus, the leaders participated in the event by videoconference. The previous year, Bolsonaro’s first in the Presidency, meetings were scheduled with Boris Johnson and the presidents of the United States, Poland, Colombia, Peru, Ukraine and South Africa. However, the bilateral meetings were all cancelled, due to medical recommendations, as the Brazilian had undergone surgery days before.

That year, however, Bolsonaro attended a cocktail party offered to heads of state and government and held a private meeting at that event with then US President Donald Trump – of whom the Brazilian considers himself an ally.

Bolsonaro travels to New York on the same day as the ceremony in the United Kingdom and returns to Brazil on Tuesday (20). Carlos França, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the other hand, will remain in New York throughout the week and has meetings scheduled with representatives from a number of countries, such as Russia, Japan, Belarus, El Salvador, Iran, Turkey, in addition to the secretary -general of the Arab League.