New Delhi (India), January 26, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked for India's support in the organization of a front among developing countries to combat hunger and build a democratic and just international order.

"Your Excellency's book, entitled 'India 2020, A Vision for the New Millenium,' is dedicated to a young girl whose aspiration is to live in a developed India. The boys and girls of Brazil also want to construct a developed country capable of overcoming hunger and poverty. This is my government's chief commitment," Lula told President Abdul Kalan during a banquet offered to the Brazilian delegation at the sumptuous Rashtrapati Bhawan palace.

President Lula said he is going to Geneva on Thursday (29) to converse with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and French President Jacques Chirac and to invite the world's leaders, especially those that represent the rich nations, to engage themselves in the world effort against hunger.

"But, in this fight, India, Brazil, and South Africa occupy a leadership role that cannot be abdicated," he emphased. "We must act together with other nations to catalyze the developing world's energies to combat hunger," he stressed.

A JUSTER WORLD

Lula, who is going to Geneva to attend a meeting of the Unctad (the UN agency for trade and development) and present his proposal for the creation of a global fund to combat hunger and extreme poverty, observed that a world that provokes political and economic inequalities is a victim of political uprisings and terrorist threats. "We need a world order ruled by International Law and a balanced and just multilateral system," he declared.

The President reiterated the need to reform the UN, especially the Security Council, to make the organization more representative and effective, and he said that Brazil and India need to be included in any process of Council reform. (DAS)