President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his winning the elections as the president of Brazil and wished him success.

In a phone call, Erdoğan said the bilateral relations, which Türkiye and Brazil raised to the level of "strategic partnership" in 2010, will develop further in the new period, the Presidential Communications Directorate said in a statement.

Erdoğan also said that cooperation between the two G-20 member countries will be a determinant in terms of tackling global challenges.

Lula won Brazil's presidential election second-round runoff Sunday, beating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro after a tense and highly polarized campaign race.

He will start his duty on Jan. 1, 2023, after serving as the nation’s 35th president from 2003 to 2010.

Although Türkiye has had diplomatic contact with Latin American countries since the 19th century, relations remained stagnant due to geographical distance up until the early 2000s. However, with the establishment of the Action Plan for Latin America and the Caribbean in 1998 and the declaration of 2006 as the Year of Latin America and the Caribbean in Türkiye, relations gained new momentum. From that point on, the two sides began to pay reciprocal official visits. Brazil even built a strategic partnership with Türkiye to strengthen relations and in 2006 the Türkiye-Brazil High-Level Cooperation Commission was established. Türkiye also uses soft power, including soap operas, humanitarian aid, cultural cooperation and more to enhance its ties with the region.