Caracas, 8/27/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared that commercial relations between rich nations and poor nations have been "inhumane." The remark was made during a joint declaration by the Brazilian president and the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.

Lula said that rich nations want to get richer, while poor nations tend to get poorer. He pointed out that no leader of a rich nation is going to lower prices so a poor nation can sell its goods because of the situation in poor nations where there is unemployment, street children, illiteracy and housing problems.

Lula told Chavez that poor nations had to insist that rich nations practice what they preach. "We want free trade and the chance to show that we can be competitive. If we can do that, maybe some day we will be rich," said the president of Brazil. (AB)