Brazil's president evaluates G20 summit, energy policies

BRASILIA, Brazil, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Brazil's president has evaluated the recent G20 meeting in Pittsburgh and offered Brazilian experience to combat global warming.

Writing Thursday in O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed optimism that the worst of the global recession was over, noting, "After a 9 percent decline, global trade has now started to respond, thanks to the $250 billion injected by means of flexible credits and without conditionalities. Nearly 50 million jobs will be lost in 2009, but there are already signs of stabilization." According to Da Silva, the decisive action of the G-20 summit members meeting in London in April was critical: "More important than the unprecedented scale of funds which were mobilized was the quick and decisive demonstration of collective will. This, in part, was instrumental in ensuring a regaining of the confidence necessary for the economy to function at this time of great uncertainty and turbulence."

Da Silva noted however that global warming and an increasingly global energy market impacted the recession, commenting, "Climate change and the increasing global competition for energy markets dramatically confirmed what we already knew: globalization has made us increasingly dependent on each other." In tackling the twin problems Da Silva states that Brazil has an important role to play, noting, "The Brazilian experience with bio-fuels and with the predominance of hydroelectricity shows the path towards an energy matrix in tune with environmental preservation."