Brazil and Suriname will begin negotiations in the second half of the year to expand their trade agreement and stimulate new business opportunities.

This rapprochement was one of the main focuses of the bilateral meeting between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Surinamese President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, which took place on Thursday (May 28) in Brasília. Elected last year and serving a term until 2030, she is the first woman to lead the neighboring country.

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“Our trade is still very small and concentrated in a few products. In 2025, it was only 55 million dollars - that is, almost nothing. The only trade agreement we have is extremely limited. With this visit, we managed to approve terms of reference to increase trade flows between Brazil and Suriname,” Lula stated in a joint press statement at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Bilateral trade includes machinery, electrical equipment, chemical industry products, and commodities, and is composed almost entirely of Brazilian exports. According to Lula, the negotiations should expand trade facilitation measures and include new sectors.

The Surinamese delegation’s program in Brasília includes a business meeting bringing together Brazilian entities and companies and representatives of Suriname’s productive sector in the areas of energy, logistics, transport, agriculture, and communications.

Critical oil and minerals

In recent years, Suriname has discovered significant offshore oil reserves in the region known as the Guiana Basin in the Atlantic Ocean, which are expected to boost the country’s economy in the coming years.

In 2024, Petrobras and the Surinamese state-owned company Staatsolie signed agreements on cooperation in oil, renewable energy, and safety in hydrocarbon exploration activities. Lula also recalled that, like Brazil, Suriname stands out for its potential in critical minerals, which are essential for the manufacture of electronic components for high-tech equipment.

“We have the opportunity to cooperate in sustainable mining, local industrialization, and value-added production, contributing to overcoming historical models based solely on the export of raw materials,” said the Brazilian president.

Food security

Another important area of bilateral cooperation is agriculture and food production. “Brazil can contribute significantly to the food and nutritional security of the Surinamese people through the supply of beef, pork, poultry, and other food products,” Lula emphasized.

Technical and scientific cooperation between the two countries was also the focus of agreements and memoranda of understanding signed during the meeting.

Jennifer Geerlings-Simons’ agenda in Brasília will also include a visit this week to a unit of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) for an exchange on expertise in family farming, food security, and sustainable agroforestry systems.

“For Suriname, lowering food costs and ensuring food security remain critical, and we are certain that Brazil is a partner we can trust to help us with this,” stated Geerlings-Simons.

Social programs

The President of Suriname will also visit a unit of the Social Assistance Reference Center (CRAS), the entry point to Brazilian government social programs, and a housing project under the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) program, which could serve as inspiration for a model that Geerlings-Simons intends to take to the neighboring country.

“I think we agreed that the main task of every politician is to ensure that people can achieve the highest level of well-being. Furthermore, we discussed regional development issues and reaffirmed our shared commitment to democracy and regional integration,” added the Surinamese leader.

Signed agreements

In total, Lula and Jennifer Geerlings-Simons signed 13 cooperation agreements in sectors such as cybersecurity, police cooperation, combating human trafficking, public health, integrated fire management, hydroelectric dam security, and coordinated military operations in the Amazon border region.

The governments of Brazil and Suriname also discussed measures to expand maritime and air connections between the two countries and advance the so-called “Guiana Ring,” an integration project connecting northern Brazil to Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, facilitating access to the Caribbean market and strengthening regional infrastructure.