President Bush Welcomes President Lula of Brazil to Camp Dav

March 31, 2007,4:20 P.M. EDT,PRESIDENT BUSH:  Mr. President, welcome to Camp David.  Laura and I are delighted you're here.  This is a special spot for Laura and me, and it was my honor to welcome you to this part of America.  You come as a friend, we welcome you as a friend, and our discussions were very friendly.,We talked about a lot of areas of mutual¹ concern.  We talked about what I would call mutual opportunities.  We talked about, of course, trade.  Brazil and America trade a lot.  Perhaps the most compelling part of the opportunity to work together is for the Doha Round.  It's in the U.S. interest that we complete the Doha Round successfully.  It is in -- I think it's in Brazil's interest -- at least that's the way the President has told me.  I don't want to put words in his mouth.  But it is in our interest to work together to make sure that we have a deal that treats Brazil fairly, the United States fairly, as well as other nations fairly. ,joint⁴³ news conference Saturday, March 31, 2007, at Camp David. White House photo by Eric Draper" src="/upimg/allimg/20070407/1047230.jpg" width="255" align="right" border="0" />I strongly believe that the best way to help alleviate² world poverty is through trade.  And so we had yet another constructive³ dialogue.  We had a good dialogue there in São Paulo, and here at Camp David we had, as well.  Interestingly enough, we announced the creation of a U.S.-Brazil CEO forum⁴.  It's a opportunity for people in our respective countries to get to know each other better and to strengthen economic ties, as well as social ties. ,We talked about biofuels.  I can remember very well, Mr. President, going to the Petrobas plant.  It's an amazing facility.  It was exciting for me to see the realities of your biofuels industry firsthand.  I'm a big believer in alternative fuels.  There's a whole new industry here in the United States beginning to spring up.  And I told the President that not only are we committed domestically to promoting a alternative fuel industry, we're committed to working with Brazil.  And that's why we support the President's initiative on the international biofuels forum, as well as the initiative that we talked about in São Paulo, and signed a memorandum⁶ of understanding, and that is to help nations in our own hemisphere realize the benefits of ethanol and biodiesel.,I appreciate the President's very strong commitment to democracy.  I also appreciate his very strong commitment to help nations, particularly on the continent of Africa.  And one of the really exciting initiatives that we will work together on is an initiative to eradicate⁷ malaria⁸ in São Tomé and Príncipe, two opportunities for Brazil and the United States to work together to improve somebody's life.  There is no excuse for malaria to continuing to kill as many people as it does.,Our great nations can work together to stop that death.  There is a reasonable plan in place.  It's a plan that I'm confident can achieve great success, and it makes a lot of sense for Brazil and the United States to work toward that plan.,As I said in São Paulo, Mr. President, I appreciate very much your leadership on Haiti.  I appreciate the fact that you've led the U.N. Stabilization⁹ Force.  We want to, of course, make sure that your efforts to bring security are followed up by opportunity for the people of Haiti.  We don't want your forces to be there to simply stabilize¹⁰, we want your force to leave -- be a part of a constructive future, which is precisely¹¹ your vision.  And we want to work with you very closely to achieve that end.,We spent a lot of time talking about other parts of the world.  And that's what you would expect when the United States and Brazil sit at the same table.  Brazil is an influential¹² nation, and it's an important nation.  And I really do appreciate so very much your -- sharing your strategic thoughts about not only our own neighborhood, but other parts of the world.,And so, Mr. President, it's with great pleasure that I welcome you here.  I'm looking forward to giving you a tour of Camp David.  We've been spending too much time doing business; now we need to do a little pleasure.  And after this press conference, you and I will take a little tour, and then I'll feed you a meal, if you're hungry.,Welcome.,PRESIDENT LULA:  (As translated.)  Your Excellency, Mr. George W. Bush, the President of the United States; Madam First Lady Laura Bush; Madam Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Ambassador Celso Amorim, and other ministers from Brazil; ladies and gentlemen; members of the Brazilian delegation¹³ and the U.S. delegation; newspaper representatives, press representatives.  First of all, I would like to thank President Bush for the invitation.  My visit to Camp David made it possible for us to cope with issues of global, regional, and bilateral¹⁴ interest. ,I believe that the 21st century will be marked by changes that we will have to undertake, and also for the improvement of the things that we did right in the 20th century.  We don't have anymore the Cold War amongst us.  We don't experience anymore the bipolarity that affected¹⁵ our lives during half a century.  And so now we should try to do in the 21st century, make it the century of inclusion of those that are disenfranchised in the 20th century.  And I am talking about the less developed countries in Latin America, of South America, of Africa and of Asia. ,And we also have a subject matter that we have to cope in the 21st century that we did not cope well in the 20th century, and that could pervade¹⁶ our relations for the next years.  That is the issue of climate change that affects the planet Earth.  Twenty years ago, when we were warned about the problems that we were causing to the world, we used to put the blame on those that were making this warning.  We criticized them.  We said that they weren't responsible.  And we criticized sometimes minority groups that went to the streets with their banners and flags, advocating for environmental preservation¹⁷. ,Now has come the time for all the countries in the world to take very seriously climate change and environmental issues.  Why so?  Because humanity faces one of the major risks in its history.  Global warming is a reality that threatens us by land, by the air, and by the water, a dilemma¹⁸ that ironically embraces all of us, no matter where in the planet Earth.  The issue is frightening and very concrete, and a problem of today.  But its solution is still feasible.  And part of the solution is in our reach. ,We have talked already about this twice.  We have talked about biofuels, and about our determination in deepening the cooperation in this sector¹⁹.  The memorandum of understanding that was signed in São Paulo is the basis of an ambitious partnership²⁰ that will make it possible for us to confront the major challenges of this century that is now beginning:  First of all, the resolution of the energy crisis that affects almost all countries in the world; secondly²¹, the environment protection threatened by the global warming of the planet; and finally, poverty relief and social exclusion²² with the creation of new jobs and expanding the workers' income for the poorest workers of the world.,We intend to send our scientists and experts from Brazil to research centers in the U.S., and vice²³ versa.  We will create a fund with the support of international agencies, so that we can finance the cooperation with the most needy²⁴ and interest [sic] countries.  We're also committed to the strengthening of the international biofuel forum.  I invited the United States to participate in an international conference on the issue that Brazil will host in the year 2008.,The concern with the environment is growing in Brazil and in the world, and above all, especially after the latest reports from the U.N. Panel on Climate Change.  The stimulus²⁵ for sustainable production of biofuels is a decisive part of this endeavor to resolve this issue.  The biofuels offer equally a unique opportunity for the energy democratization of the world to diversify²⁶ sources of production.  We also have obtained good results in different areas. ,It's important to say to President Bush, here in Camp David, in his residence, that, for me, the biofuel issue is almost like an obsession²⁷.  I don't know why, but we already have talked about -- or heard about biofuels since 1925.  Already was mentioned biodiesel in 1943 in Brazil.  Nevertheless, since we didn't have the dimension, the scope of the evils that oil could cause, or any other kind of energy matrix to the world -- because also oil was very cheap in those days -- this was not taken forward by any country, neither by the automobile²⁸ industry of any country.  And now we are facing a period, a moment, where this new energy matrix can make the world more independent. ,It can make the world creating more wealth, because the experience that we have in Brazil is that for each worker that works in a biodiesel plant, it is necessary 1,000 workers in the countryside, which means that we can create millions of jobs for the less developed countries in the world that was not foreseen in any paper that was signed by us in the 20th century.,In Brazil, in the last four years, we managed to reduce the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest 52 percent.  More than two million hectares have been saved.  Please pay attention.  And carbon gas emissions²⁹ have been reduced in more than 400 tons, emissions to the atmosphere.  And we know that the rainforests are amongst the great victims of climate change.  In the negotiations³¹ on the Convention on Climate Change, we proposed financial incentives³² to reduce carbon gas emissions per ton, resulting in further reductions of deforestation.  We expect that our proposal would have the support of international community, and obviously, especially and mainly from the U.S.,We first can establish a partnership either for promoting biofuels, and also in fighting the investigation³³ of the global warming, and of deforestation itself with full respect to the sovereignty of each country. ,Brazil has the largest and most important biodiversity on the planet.  We have the consciousness of the value that this natural asset represents for our country and for the world.  Brazil, with 383 million hectares of arable³⁴ land has the capacity to reconcile food production, biofuel production and the defense³⁵ of our forests.  Our well-known commitment to fight hunger does not allow us that any activity would cause damage to the food production.  I should say, and President Bush knows very well, and also know, and I believe that all rulers are aware that the world hunger does not result from a lack of food.  Rather, it has more to do with the -- (inaudible) -- distribution of income and the lack of political will. ,Talking with President Bush about the concern of my government to fight hunger and poverty, I mentioned our concern with the Doha Round of the WTO.  It is central in our struggle against poverty.  And I leave Camp David with the certainty that I've never seen in all the previous conversations that I had with President Bush, or with Madam Condoleezza Rice, I never have left a meeting between us with so much optimism as I am this way, that I believe we're getting closer than we have ever been before to reach an agreement during the Doha Round of the WTO.,We are trying to conclude with success these trade negotiations.  We have urgency in reach, and ambitious and balanced agreements.  The continuation of agriculture subsidies³⁶ makes food more expensive and does not stimulate³⁷ its production in the less developed countries.  Without eliminating subsidies, the opportunity of development represented by biofuels would be lost.  And with that, the possibility of the improvement of living conditions of hundreds of millions of lives of men and women.  ,So that's why it's necessary to eliminate the trade barriers to ethanol, so that we can really reach a true energy commodity.  I dream that, at the most, 15 to 20 years from now, that the world will surrender to the biofuels.  So those that believe in that, they start to invest today and now, because if they leave it for the future, they're going to lag behind and they're going to lose the train, and possibly they will be lagging behind in the history of modernization³⁸.,Dear friends, naturally, I have spoken with President Bush about the Brazilian concern on the limited progress of the U.N. reform.  This is where we have more divergence³⁹.  But in politics, if there's no divergence, if it's not interesting to work with politics, to being politics [sic], but I really wanted, truly, to say to President Bush what was Brazil's view.  And President Bush told me what his vision was. ,And we reached a conclusion, and certainly it's not an agreement yet, that the U.N. reform still will have to undertake other reforms that we have to undertake within the U.N. itself so that we can guarantee the U.N. Security Council reform.  Since I only have 61 years of age, and I have another four years of my term, I am convinced that it won't take a long time for us to see this council changed and the U.N. reformed.  I know that it is a highly complex issue.  But we cannot postpone⁴⁰ it anymore.  I am certain that the dialogue between our countries will contribute to forward the issue in a much more faster and appropriate way.,We also talked about other issues on the international agenda, as the situation in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon.  And maybe many of you don't know, and I told President Bush that, that in Brazil, we have a community of more than 10 million inhabitants of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry⁴¹.  And so that's why we have been trying to attend all the fora that deal with this issue.  And within our possibilities, we try to cooperate to rebuild Lebanon. ,We also have tried to help the construction of a viable⁴² Palestinian state while, at the same time, respect Israel's right to exist. ,Ladies and gentlemen, we approached important issues in our regional agenda, and I told to President Bush that we have to do more for Haiti.  And, in this case, it's interesting to remember that we have reached already agreements not only to work together with Haiti, and work together with the Dominican Republic, and work together in countries like Sno Tomé and Príncipe in Africa, and in Guinea-Bissau in Africa.  And if these experiments are successful, these joint partnerships⁴⁴, this joint work, I believe that we'll have much more room for us to build other projects between the U.S. and Brazil, so that we can help third party countries.,We also agreed that the cooperation with biofuels in Haiti could be decisive to that country.  It's not suffice to be the armed forces from Brazil, Chile, Argentina in Haiti, leading the  stabilization mission of the U.N.  We need to guarantee democracy in Haiti, governance.  It's necessary to guarantee their security, but if we don't have development and jobs, all of that will disappear very quickly.,I also told President Bush that Brazil invests firmly in South American integration⁴⁵.  I should say, President Bush, this is another thing that I pursued since the first year of my term.  If we want to guarantee democracy in South America, if we want to guarantee South American development, if we want to guarantee the strengthening of institutions in South America, we have to have the consciousness that fiscal⁴⁶ integration is a basic addition for the development of the region.  And maybe, who knows, the United States can be a partner of Brazil and of other countries in South America in the fiscal integration that we so much are in need.