Brazil: Lula to promote African ethanol

BRASILIA, Brazil, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will travel to Africa next week to promote ethanol production there, Brazil's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Da Silva is scheduled to visit Angola, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Congo and South Africa where he will reportedly discuss how those countries could benefit from producing sugarcane-based ethanol to help reduce poverty on the continent.

South Africa and Mozambique are reportedly on the short list of candidate nations for expanding the ethanol market in the region, ethanol experts at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at Iowa State University told United Press International in December.