Monterrey (Mexico), January 14, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva considered quite productive the bilateral meetings held between Brazil and other Latin American countries during the Special Summit of the Americas. Regarding the American and Mexican initiative to create a group of countries to help Bolivia achieve stability, Lula affirmed that any initiative by a country to help nations in situations similar to Bolivia's is good. "We all want to help Bolivia. The United States has a long-standing policy of assitance to Bolivians. Brazil does not desire paternity, it wants partnership in the sense of finding a solution that resolves Bolivia's political and economic problem," he declared.
Lula announced that Brazil's contribution to its neighboring country will begin next week with a visit by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Dilma Rousseff. She will discuss future projects for the construction of a natural gas chemical pole between the two countries and the transport of Bolivian gas via the Brazilian gas pipeline. According to Lula, the BNDES (National Economic and Social Development Bank) is endeavoring to finance infrastructure projects in Bolivia. "What interests us is for Bolivia to be peaceful and very calm, since we have over 3 thousand kilometers of border," he said.
Lula underscored the importance of countries' signing trade agreements consistent with each one's reality and need for economic growth. When asked by the press whether he and George W. Bush had discussed problems between the governments of the United States and Venezuela, he said no, emphasizing that Venezuela's problem should be resolved by Venezuela itself.
"We are rooting for Venezuela to find a democratic solution to its political problem. There is an electoral commission that is taking care of organizing the referendum. The opposition is seeking signatures, the government wants to monitor to make sure they are legitimate, and international delegations are accompanying. I think that if we analyze today compared with a year ago, Venezuela has taken exceptional steps to make democracy work," Lula declared.
Commenting on his meeting early Tuesday (13) morning with President George W. Bush, the President affirmed his hope that the two governments negotiate as quickly as possible a reciprocal agreement dispensing with visas between the two countries. The Brazilian President stated that the purpose of the meeting was to show President Bush that a country like Brazil, with historic ties to the United States, cannot be treated with disrespect.
Lula repeated declarations made by the Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, that there is no interest in keeping American citizens waiting at Brazilian airports and that "reciprocity does not mean ill will towards anyone, but rather, a desire that we be respected abroad." The Brazilian President expressed optimism that there will be changes in the relations between the countries. "In the globalized world in which relations need to be perfected more and more, there is no reason for this type of treatment. I told Bush that if the problem is the war against terrorism, we don't have, nor do we wish to have, a culture of terrorism. If the problem is that there are Brazilians who are disrespecting American laws, we have to adopt another procedure, instead of discomfitting people," Lula affirmed.
According to Minister Amorim, at the meeting between the two presidents, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, reaffirmed his interest in paying a visit to Brazil. (DAS)
