Berlin, 28 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is travelling to South America for a four-day trip to Argentina, Chile and Brazil – his first visit to the region since taking office at the end of 2021.

The first stop is Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, followed by Chile on Sunday and a two-day visit to Brazil, the continent’s largest and most populous country.

There Scholz will meet the left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was sworn in on January 1 after winning a run-off election in October against Jair Bolsonaro.

On January 8 thousands of rioters attacked Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace in Brasília refusing to acknowledge Bolsonaro’s defeat to Lula.

Hundreds were arrested and Lula vowed to get to the bottom of the riot’s causes.

Scholz, a Social Democrat, is visiting Latin America much earlier than his conservative predecessor Angela Merkel, who only visited the continent two and a half years after first taking office.

The chancellor wants to broaden Germany’s international relations and lessen its energy dependence on Russia in the wake of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

For this reason, Scholz has already been to Asia three times and made a major trip to Africa.

Latin America has large raw material deposits. Iron and steel, copper, lead, zinc and above all lithium, which is so important for the production of electric cars, can be found on the continent.

A business delegation of about a dozen managers will accompany the chancellor on his South American trip.

The visit will also focus on the stalled negotiations on a free trade agreement with the Mercosur states, which include Argentina and Brazil. These two countries are also members of the G20 most important economic powers.