Lula and Macron launch submarine built in Brazil with French technology

Brazil’s first lady, Janja da Silva, broke a bottle of champagne on the bow of the Tonelero submarine at her christening, and the two presidents activated a lever that sent the Scorpene-class ship overboard.

The program, started in 2008 during Lula’s previous presidential term, is a partnership with Naval Group, a French state-owned company in which the defense company Thales has a 35% stake.

The Brazilian government has said its fleet of submarines is needed to defend the country’s nearly 7,500km coastline and its waters in the Atlantic, where the country explores vast offshore oil fields.

This week Macron is carrying out a three-day visit to Brazil that aims to relaunch the bilateral relationship and strategic partnership, after a separation between Brazil and France during the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro, whom Macron criticized for failing to protect the Amazon rainforest. .

Macron landed on Tuesday in the Amazonian city of Belém, where Brazil will host the UN COP30 climate negotiations in 2025. Lula received him there and together they committed to working in partnership to end deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.

Macron will meet with businesspeople in São Paulo later this Wednesday, and will make a state visit to Brasília on Thursday.