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Brazilian president calls for biofuel cooperation with Africa

https://www.chemnet.com   Oct 17,2007 Xinhua
BRASILIA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday called for biofuel cooperation with Africa during his tour of Burkina Faso, local media reported.

"As Africa is taking up the path of growth again, ethanol and biodiesel provide a way to guarantee the continent's energy autonomy and economic sovereignty," he told a press conference in the west African nation's capital, Ouagadougou, following a meeting with Burkina Faso officials.

Lula also said Brazil has agreed to offer financial backing to west African nations seeking to develop ethanol programs, although he did not give a figure.

In neighboring Mali, Brazilian and U.S. organizations have already invested 500 million U.S. dollars to develop jatropha, a plant that can be used to make biofuels. Brazil is already workingin Ghana on other biofuel plans, Baba Seid Bally, president of the African Association for the Promotion of Biofuel, told reporters.

The Brazilian president signed several agreements to assist Burkina Faso in its push to lower child mortality and develop agriculture.

Lula's African trip was also to take him to Congo later in the day and then to South Africa and Angola. South Africa is preparing for a three-way meeting with Brazil and India on key issues of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Doha Round of trade talks.

The three countries are among a large group of developing nations that have called for the United States and Europe to cut farm subsidies so that the WTO can reach a trade deal.

Last week, WTO chief Pascal Lamy urged the organization's 151 members to accelerate the pace of negotiations in order to make the Doha Round of global trade liberalization talks a success.

The Doha Round of trade talks were launched in 2001 with the aim of bringing down trade barriers to help the global economy, with a particular focus on developing countries.

Lamy has warned that the talks must be concluded by the end of 2007 or early 2008, otherwise they may be frozen infinitely mainly due to political factors.

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