Brazil's President Lula says G7 nations no longer speak for the world

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Telegraph

Brazil's President Lula says G7 nations no longer speak for the world

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has warned the G7 nations no longer have the moral authority to solve the world's problems and dictate solutions to poorer countries.

By Andrew Downie in Sao Paulo
Last Updated: 7:24PM GMT 16 Mar 2009



In an interview, he said that without the co-operation of emerging nations, the global economic recovery would be slower, incomplete and more painful.

One of the most outspoken leaders in the developing world, Lula said next month's G20 summit in London was "proof enough that the G7 alone is no longer in a position to make decisions that require truly globally co-ordinated responses".

Lula, who leads one of the emerging 'BRIC' economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, has positioned himself as a spokesman for the world's poorer nations, particularly in trade talks.

On the eve of the G20 meeting he warned richer nations they must recognise the growing clout of the developing economies.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-su...

[msongs]

1. glad to know he has something to do when he's not destryoing the Amazon basin nt

[Mr Generic Other]

5. i'm quite sure that those destroying the amazon basin are american interests.

the world bank secured those trees for us in the "austerity' programs it mandated in brazil during the 1970s.
unfortunately the world will be better off, even for american citizens, when we no longer rule the earth.

[antimatter98]

2. He's absolutely correct. And the US have been a major player in bankrupting Latin America. n/t

[Ikonoklast]

3. He'll find that selling off the natural resources of Brazil to China

will not make his country any less safe economically than selling them to anyone else.

But I'm glad that he thinks so.

[Judi Lynn]

4. WSJ: Brazil's da Silva Warns Against Protectionism

Brazil's da Silva Warns Against Protectionism
By JOHN LYONS

~snip~
Mr. da Silva, for example, said he was urging Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to tone down his anti-U.S. rhetoric and view the change of administration as an opportunity to revamp relations. In turn, he is urging the U.S. to dismantle the trade embargo against Cuba, a long time burr in regional relations.

"There is no human, sociological or political reason to maintain the embargo on Cuba," Mr. da Silva said. "We have to look to the future, and we can't politic in the 21st century over what happened in the 20th."

The U.S. has said it expects to ease restrictions on travel and money transfers to Cuba.

Mr. da Silva's unlikely rise to power -- he was a school dropout and industrial worker who lost a finger in a factory accident -- gives him enormous reservoir of good will in a region with a deep divide between rich and poor.

~snip~
Mr. da Silva's disdain for investment banks is rooted in the aftermath of his 2002 election, when U.S. and European investment houses led a rout on Brazilian bonds, predicting Mr. da Silva would wreck the economy. Brazil's economy has remained on solid footing, and its financial system is intact.

Indeed, Mr. da Silva said the crisis offered an opportunity to create an economy where Wall Street financiers play a smaller role.

"The world will be less false," Mr. da Silva said. "The economy that will count is the one that produces corn, rice, a screw, a car, a suit, a watch."

More:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123673753221191161.html