Keite Camacho
Reporter Agência Brasil

Guatemala City - The president of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, says his country could install an ethanol fuel program based on the Brazilian model which uses sugarcane to manufacture a fuel additive (for diesel and gasoline), as well as an efficient, low-polluting ethanol fuel.

Although Central American countries are sugar producers, they are completely dependent on petroleum for vehicle fuel. At the Brazil-Sica (Central American-Caribbean Integration System), summit which is taking place in Guatemala this week, it has become clear that the region and Brazil have converging interests and needs in this area.

According to Mario Vilalva, of the Commercial Promotion Department at the Foreign Ministry, this is the situation. On one hand, Sica is interested in making changes in its energy matrix, becoming less dependent on imported fuel. On the other hand, Brazil is interested in exporting its ethanol fuel technology and factories, as well as transforming its ethanol fuel into an international market commodity. There is also a strong possibility of exporting Brazilian hybrid cars to Central America and the Caribbean which do not manufacture vehicles.

Translator: Allen Bennett