Marcos Chagas
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Addressing the National Congress, yesterday (25), the president of France, Jacques Chirac, called for the deepening of relations between France and Brazil in the areas of biotechnology and industry, especially in space research and investments in non-polluting energy sources. "Progress should be attained on the basis of ethics and reason," he observed.

During his visit to the Brazilian legislature, he said that he regards the fight to preserve natural resources as an "imperative" and urged the two countries to join forces to this end. In Chirac's view, "the world of excellence" sought by France and Brazil depends on the construction of new alliances. "No country will deal with this challenge alone."

Following the French president's lead, the president of the Brazilian Congress, senator Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), pointed out that the Brazilian energy sector is experiencing a moment of "excellent opportunties for new French investments in Brazil."

Calheiros emphasized that the establishment of a regulatory benchmark and the possibility of forming public-private partnerships reinforce this tendency. "It is important to point out that Brazil's potential as a field of international investments transcends our borders."

In Calheiros' judgment, the two countries share "common perspectives on crucial issues on the current international agenda, such as the defense of multilateralism and international law, United Nations reform, and the stabilization mission in Haiti."

Translation: David Silberstein