Rio de Janeiro - US President George W Bush's visit to
Brazil next week will be a 'good first step' for greater energy
cooperation between the world's two largest producers of ethanol and
will help promote a greater global market for the renewable fuel,
observers on both sides said Monday.
Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of
American States (OAS) and US Senator Richard Lugar, said they hoped
Bush's visit would create a 'strategic association' in the field of
biofuels, in an article published by Brazilian daily Folha de Sao
Paulo.
Bush will meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in
Sao Paulo on March 9. The two leaders are expected to sign 'an
important bilateral agreement to improve cooperation in biofuels in
the private sector, to promote the use of ethanol in the (Latin
American) region and to start to turn ethanol into a global
commodity,' according to the article.
Insulza and Lugar said the deal presents 'an unprecedented
opportunity' to build a 'strategic association which would face two
of the greatest challenges for the hemisphere: energy insecurity and
poverty.'
The agreement to be signed in Sao Paulo is 'a good first step,'
but the article said Bush and Lula 'can be more ambitious.'
Senator Lugar, a Republican, said he plans to put a bill before
the US Congress with a view to financing private projects across the
continent in the field of biofuels.
'An investment programme like that could, in the short run, create
a powerful market for biofuels in the Western hemisphere, which would
attenuate poverty, create jobs and income, improve energetic
security, strengthen the independence of nations and protect the
environment,' the article said.
Cooperation in the field of ethanol and other biofuels is set to
be the main theme of the meeting between Bush and Lula.
Brazil has recently been surpassed by the United States as the
world leader in the production of ethanol. However, the South
American country's production is based on sugar cane, while US
ethanol is obtained from corn, which is less efficient.
Heavy US tariffs on Brazilian ethanol imports has been one of the
main obstacles to an agreement between both nations, which the US has
refused to lower despite Brazilian demands. The United States instead
intends to propose an association with Brazil to exploit third-
country markets.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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