Vale CEO meets Brazil's Lula, touts 'convergence' with government agenda

By Marta Nogueira and Lisandra Paraguassu

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian miner Vale's CEO held his first official meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday, the company said, where he highlighted that there was "enormous convergence" between its projects and the country's development agenda.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Vale Chief Executive Gustavo Pimenta has been seeking to improve the mining group's relationship with the government since he took over the job in October replacing Eduardo Bartolomeo.

The company has been criticized by Lula and cabinet members in the past. Lula's mining minister last year complained about a lack of investment in Brazil and delays to a repair deal over a 2015 dam collapse, which was ultimately sealed in October.

KEY QUOTES

In the meeting with Lula, Pimenta "discussed Vale projects that contribute to boosting Brazil to a global leadership position in the energy transition and decarbonization agenda," the miner said in a statement late on Tuesday.

"Gustavo Pimenta highlighted his optimism about the company's future and the certainty that there is enormous convergence between Vale's strategic projects and Brazil's development agenda," the statement said. 

ADDITIONAL CONTEXT

A source familiar with the hour-long meeting said Lula told Pimenta that Vale and the government needed to work together, noting that there had been some "noise" in the past but there was no reason for it to happen again.

Vale was privatized in the 1990s. One of its main shareholders includes a pension fund operated by state-run lender Banco do Brasil.

Vale on Tuesday reported its highest annual iron ore production since 2018, even after a decline in output in the fourth quarter when the company prioritized higher-margin products.

(Reporting by Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro and Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; Writing by Gabriel Araujo. Editing by Jane Merriman)