Thu 28 March 2024:

President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that France would help Brazil develop nuclear technology for submarines, crucial assistance which has been a sensitive topic between the two nations.

“I want us to open the chapter for new submarines … that we look nuclear propulsion in the face while being perfectly respectful of all non-proliferation commitments,” Macron said at the launch of a conventionally powered Franco-Brazilian submarine in Itaguai near Rio de Janeiro. “You want it, France will be at your side.”

The submarine, according to the Brazilian government, will defend the country’s nearly 7,500-kilometre coastline and the Atlantic waters where the country is developing vast offshore oil fields.

On Tuesday, the French president landed in the Amazon city of Belem for his three-day visit to Brazil and took a boat to the Combu island to meet with Indigenous leaders.

During their visit, Lula and Macron announced a plan to invest $1.1 billion in the Amazon, including parts of the rainforest in neighbouring French Guiana.

The joint statement by the two countries said that the funds will be spread over the next four years to protect the rainforest.

Macron’s visit and warm relations with Lula mark a departure from the frosty ties between the French leader and Brazil’s former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, who was in power until 2022.

Diplomatic visit or wedding pics?

The apparent bromance between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sparked a meme fest on social media with many calling the widely circulated images of the two world leaders a pre-wedding photoshoot or their wedding pictures.

During his visit to Brazil, Macron was pictured smiling and warmly embracing Lula when the two world leaders visited the Amazonian rainforest.

The images have since sparked a social media frenzy with many calling it their “pre-wedding photoshoot” or “engagement photos”.