April 26, 2007
President Lula: Chávez is a great ally for Brazil

(ABN) - "Several South American newspapers such as El Clarín, La Nación and Página/12 published today that the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, described President Chávez as 'a great ally in the energy, trade and political sector'.

Lula also praises his Argentine counterpart, Néstor Kirchner, and denied the false distance with the Venezuelan leader.

'Chávez drives a Formula 1 car faster than us: he runs at up to 300 kph while we run at 230 or 270 kph,' said Lula.Lula defended the project to build the Great South Gas Pipeline of 9,300 km promoted by the Venezuelan government to supply the Argentinean and Brazilian people with Venezuelan gas.

Furthermore, the Brazilian leader said that his country is interested in taking part in the Bank of the South which is 'an institution to favor the social development' or a substitute of the International Monetary Fund, EFE news agency reported. President Lula starts an official tour through Chile and Argentina.

'We do not need a person to lead the people in Latin America . What we are looking for is to strengthen the ties between the states and the leaders, based on mutual respect of the cultural and economic differences,' he said.

He underlined the good administration of Néstor Kirchner and said that the bilateral relation between Argentina and Brazil has been very profitable during the last four years' (...).

The Brazilian President said that he understood the Bolivian President, Evo Morales, refers to the controversy with the foreign oil companies, among them the Brazilian Petrobras, caused by the price of the Bolivian gas.

'I understood that Evo wants a fair price for gas; but we also want a fair price,' he said.

Concerning the last meeting with the US President held last month, Lula said that one of the most important issues was his request that 'the US government does not suspend the preferential trade agreement with Bolivia and Ecuador.'

'I told Bush that it is not possible to corner a poor country if we can keep the region in peace,' President Lula said.

In his remarks, Lula insisted on the most powerful countries of Mercosur, Argentina and Brazil, must help to their smallest partners Uruguay and Paraguay, as well as other nations of the region".