Bush, Brazil's Lula upbeat on global trade deal

Sao Paulo, Mar 10: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and US President George W Bush said today they are optimistic about making progress on the Doha round of global trade talks.

''We are closer than ever to a successful conclusion of the Doha trade round,'' Lula said he had told Bush.

Bush, speaking at a news conference with Lula, said he shared the Brazilian leader's optimism but he added: ''It's gonna take a lot of work''.

World leaders have made a renewed effort this year to complete a global free trade deal after talks stalled in 2006.

A free trade agreement is vital because trade is the ''most effective anti-poverty programme,'' said Bush, who was visiting Brazil on the first leg of a five-nation tour of Latin America.

He called on other countries to make concessions and said that any agreement between Brazil and the United States did not mean they were off the hook.

Lula said he hoped ethanol trade would be free of protectionism, a reference to US tariffs on imports of Brazilian ethanol. The two countries earlier signed an accord to promote production of biofuels in the Americas.

But Bush said he had not agreed with Lula to reduce the 0.54 dollar per gallon US tariff.

The World Trade Organization formally relaunched the Doha round of negotiations in February after a six-month suspension.

For a deal to be possible, the United States will have to make bigger farm subsidy cuts and the European Union will have to go further in cutting agricultural import tariffs, negotiators say. In return, developing countries must open their markets to industrial goods and services.

Lula said earlier this week that the United States could tip the balance in favour of an agreement by cutting farm aid broadly. Brazil, a major agriculture exporter, wants the United States to cut subsidies on products such as corn, soybean, cotton and sugar.

As leader of the G20 group of developing nations, Brazil has had a key role in fighting for freer farm trade within the current negotiating round of the WTO.

Reuters