Leaders promise to work together on climate change and democracy, despite disagreements over Ukraine.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva and United States President Joe Biden have promised to kickstart relations between the two countries, focusing on supporting democracy and combatting climate change.

The pledge on Friday came during a White House meeting between the two leaders, the first since the Brazilian president, commonly known as Lula, took office in January, replacing far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula and Biden highlighted shared goals during the visit, with Biden agreeing to visit Brazil in the future. The tone was a distinct departure from that during the administration of Bolsonaro, who maintained close ties with Biden’s predecessor, former US President Donald Trump.

Brazil “self-marginalised itself for four years”, Lula told reporters, without directly referencing Bolsonaro, who earned the nickname “The Trump of the Tropics” for his combative style and regularly repeating misinformation.

During the public portion of the meeting, Lula said the former president’s world “started and ended with fake news in the morning, afternoon, at night”.

Biden laughed and interjected: “Sounds familiar.”

The meeting came just over a month after Bolsonaro supporters stormed the Congress, Supreme Court and the presidential palace on January 8, demanding that the military intervene and remove Lula from office.

The riot paralleled the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, by supporters of Trump seeking to overturn Biden’s victory.

“Both our nations’ strong democracies have been tested … both in the United States and Brazil, democracy prevailed,” said Biden who is set to host co-host the Washington-created Summit for Democracy, along with Costa Rica, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and Republic of Zambia.

“We have some issues on which we can work together,” Lula told Biden in turn.