Lula travels to the Philippines to strengthen links with Southeast Asia

O President of Brazil will be in the Philippines next week to strengthen relations with Southeast Asia and expand markets for Brazilian exports, announced on Friday official sources.

Lula participates, on 14 and 15 November, in Manila, on a State visit and on the 49th edition of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in which Brazil is present for the second consecutive year as a guest country.

The visit has a historical character, since it is the first of a Brazilian head of state to the Philippines and coincides with the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The secretary for Asia and the Pacific of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Susan Kleebank, said that the Brazilian Government considers that ASEAN countries constitute a strategic market to diversify the destinations of Brazilian exports and reduce dependence on traditional trading partners.

The initiative is particularly important in an international scenario marked by the trade barriers imposed by the United States on Brazilian products and by tensions in international trade.

Brazil's trade with the ASEAN countries multiplied by ten between 2003 and 2025, from three billion dollars (EUR 2.69 billion) to over 38 billion dollars (34.1 billion euros), with an average annual growth of 12%, according to data released by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The block, composed of 11 countries and with more than 700 million inhabitants, was Brazil's fifth largest trading partner in 2025. Bilateral trade generated a positive balance of USD 10 billion (EUR 8.97 billion) for the Brazilian economy.

During the visit to the Philippines, Lula will seek to expand exports of products such as coffee, açaí, juices, processed foods, pasta and cookies. Since 2016, bilateral trade between both countries has quadrupled.

The agenda also includes a Brazil-Philippines business forum, which has already confirmed 113 Brazilian companies from different sectors, as well as talks on cooperation in the areas of defense, semiconductors and agribusiness.

Another subject is the renewal of the certificate that recognizes the equivalence of the Brazilian health inspection system, whose validity ends in February 2027.

Brazil also intends to raise the level of the relationship with ASEAN, from “sectoral dialogue partner” to “dialogue partner”, to the maximum level of cooperation that the bloc grants to non-member countries.

This category currently includes the United States, Japan, Canada, South Korea and the European Union.

Lula's participation in the summit, for the second consecutive year, is considered by Brazilian diplomacy a recognition of the country's growing importance on the international scene and of the Brazilian interest in strengthening ties with Asian economies.