Mexico, Brazil Should Cooperate on Energy - Lula
Date: 06-Aug-07
Country: MEXICO
Author: Chris Aspin
Hours before landing in Mexico on a state visit, Lula said in a column in Mexico's El Universal newspaper on Sunday that the two Latin American nations should forge a more "intense" partnership in the energy sector.
Lula also said the region should look to open up its borders in the labor market and, in a thinly veiled jab at the United States, said the continent needed roads and bridges, not walls.
His column focused mostly on expanding energy ties, with Mexico's state-run oil company Pemex, which is crippled by heavy tax payments and a shortage of cash to invest, looking for ways to explore deeper waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
Brazil's state-owned Petrobras is a world leader in deep sea oil exploration.
"At a time when the world seeks answers for energy security and environmental protection, Mexico and Brazil can forge a more intense partnership," Lula wrote.
"There exist many possibilities to cooperate in the development of technology for deep-sea oil and gas exploration and production," he added.
Lula kicks off a regional tour on Sunday when he arrives in Mexico for talks with President Felipe Calderon. Later in the week he will fly to other Central America and Caribbean nations.
He said Latin America needed to beef up its infrastructure and open its mind to a regional employment market, not unlike the European Union where job hunters can freely travel beyond their home nation to seek work.
"In our continent, we do not need walls. We need highways, bridges, gas pipelines and power transmission lines. The real integration allows the circulation of not only merchandise and services but people and ideas," he wrote.
Washington aims to plug its porous border with Mexico by 2013 by building a 700-mile (1,120 km) wall along parts of the frontier and creating a "virtual fence" in desert areas with drones, sensors, cameras, satellite technology and vehicle barriers.
Lula is leading a drive for South American integration, partly as a counterbalance in global trade talks to Europe and the United States.
He wants to expand the Mercosur trade bloc where one of his central themes is energy integration.
But Lula is not expected to invite Mexico to join Mercosur during his visit. Mexico is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and Canada.
Calderon and Lula are expected to sign an energy accord to pave the way for Brazilian investment and technology for the nascent Mexican ethanol industry.
Brazil is the world's largest exporter of ethanol, which it makes from sugar cane.
