Push to revive Doha to dominate Bush

Washington, Mar 31: A push to rescue struggling world trade talks will top the agenda when President George W Bush hosts Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva today at Camp David.

The meeting at the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains will include trade ministers and a discussion of the two leaders' shared goal of promoting ethanol use.

''They'll be focused on how we can strategize to move (Doha) forward,'' said Dan Fisk, a Western hemisphere specialist at the White House National Security Council. He added that Bush is ''committed to getting to a successful, ambitious conclusion.'' A broader theme will be the effort by Bush, a conservative, to build on his strong but unlikely friendship with the left-leaning Brazilian president. Bush counts on Lula as a moderate counterweight to the influence in Latin American of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Lula will be the first Latin American leader to go to Camp David on a working visit since 1991.

Three weeks ago, Bush made Brazil the first stop on his weeklong Latin America tour in which he and Lula launched a deal aimed at promoting the global use of ethanol.

Lula, who spent last night at Blair House across from the White House, will arrive at Camp David in the afternoon and the two will hold a joint press availability and have dinner before the Brazilian leader heads back home.

Fisk said that at the meeting, the leaders will unveil a list of Central American and Caribbean countries that will participate in a ''pilot program'' for biofuels.

However, the leaders are likely to continue to agree to disagree on one point -- Brazil's call for Washington to reduce its 54 cents-per-gallon (3.8 liters) tariff on the biofuel.

On the Doha round, breakthroughs are unlikely at Camp David though the meeting may help lay the groundwork for progress in coming weeks, analysts said.

''Lula and Bush are not presidents who get very involved in details of the issues,'' said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank. But he added the talks could help set a tone for future discussions among the negotiators.

Negotiators have been trying to galvanize the Doha talks aimed at lifting millions out of poverty by reducing global trade barriers.

The talks were suspended for six months last year and one obstacle is the scheduled expiration in June of Bush's trade-negotiating authority. Bush is pressing the Democratic-led Congress to renew the authority.

''The atmospherics will be important,'' said Sherman Katz, a trade analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

''The body language of the meeting in Sao Paulo suggested that they found each other simpatico. We'll see if that continues.''

Reuters