{"id":323360,"date":"2026-01-28T15:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=323360"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:46:06","slug":"lula-and-chiles-president-elect-kast-meet-for-the-first-time-in-panama-ahead-of-latin-davos-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=323360","title":{"rendered":"Lula and Chile\u2019s president-elect Kast meet for the first time in Panama ahead of \u2018Latin Davos\u2019 forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.mercopress.com\/data\/cache\/noticias\/108847\/0x0\/luka.jpg\"><img src=\"https:\/\/en.mercopress.com\/data\/cache\/noticias\/108847\/760x480\/luka.jpg\" alt=\"Kast argued that cooperation between Chile and Brazil \u201ccan lead the change our region needs\u201d \"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>PANAMA CITY, Jan 28 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) &#8212; Brazil\u2019s President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva and Chile\u2019s president-elect Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast held their first bilateral meeting in Panama on Tuesday, shortly after arriving for the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean \u2014 an event promoted by organizers and regional media as a \u201cLatin Davos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The talks were held behind closed doors and brought together leaders from opposing political camps. After the meeting, Kast described it as \u201cconstructive\u201d and said South America faces \u201cenormous\u201d challenges in security, economic progress and poverty reduction. He argued that cooperation between Chile and Brazil \u201ccan lead the change our region needs,\u201d in a post on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Brazil\u2019s Foreign Ministry had framed such contacts as normal on the sidelines of a gathering that will bring together multiple heads of state. \u201cWe maintain dialogue with absolutely all presidents in the region and our relations do not depend on the political cycle,\u201d said Gisela Padovan, the ministry\u2019s secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, noting that Brazil was already in contact with Chile\u2019s president-elect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The forum runs in Panama City on January 28\u201329 and is expected to convene presidents, business leaders and multilateral institutions. CAF said the opening session will feature Panama\u2019s President Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino, Lula, Bolivia\u2019s President Rodrigo Paz, Ecuador\u2019s President Daniel Noboa, Guatemala\u2019s President Bernardo Ar\u00e9valo and Jamaica\u2019s Prime Minister Andrew Holness, with Kast attending as Chile\u2019s president-elect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regional reporting has highlighted an agenda focused on growth, macroeconomic stability, investment, the energy transition, digital transformation and social cohesion, as the organizers seek to position the forum as a recurring high-level platform for Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No official readout of the Lula\u2013Kast discussion was released, but Kast\u2019s public remarks pointed to security and economic cooperation as core themes, underscoring a broader pattern of cross-ideological engagement among governments across the region. &#8212; NNN-MERCOPRESS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PANAMA CITY, Jan 28 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) &#8212; Brazil\u2019s President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva and Chile\u2019s president-elect Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast held their first bilateral meeting in Panama on Tuesday, shortly after arriving for the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean \u2014 an event promoted by organizers and regional media as a \u201cLatin Davos.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":323361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323360"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=323360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323362,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323360\/revisions\/323362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/323361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=323360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=323360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=323360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}