Yara Aquino Reporter Agêncial Brasil

Brasília – One of the subjects discussed at the BRICs summit, in separate meetings between president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of China, Hu Jintao, and the prime minister of Índia, Manmohan Singh, was the Iranian nuclear program. According to Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who attended the meetings, Lula presented the Brazilian position, which is in favor of a peaceful and negotiated solution.
Lula raised doubts about the efficiency of sanctions, as proposed by the United States, declaring that in some cases they can even be counterproductive. “They harm the weak and vulnerable, not the leaders,” said Amorim, at a press conference. Amorim added that it seemed to him that the leaders of both China and India shared the same point of view.
Amorim declared that for Brazil’s proposal for resolving the Iranian nuclear crisis to be successful it will be necessary for Iran to be flexible. “Lula believes it is important for the Iranian government to be flexible. That is essential if the international community is ever to feel comfortable about the Iranian nuclear program and believe that it is not for military purposes.”

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English