Brazilian President Promotes Bio-fuels on African Visit

The president of Brazil, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, is on a four nation tour of Africa where he is promoting the development of the bio-fuels industry as a step towards economic independence.

Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, while on a four nation tour of Africa, is promoting the use of bio-fuels and a means to move the countries towards economic independence. President Lula is offering the countries Brazil’s help in developing bio-fuel technology and one of the tour’s aims is to expand the circle of the countries that produce bio-fuels. The Brazilian President is on the latest stage of his global effort to promote this source of energy that his country has been using for the past 30 years. While the President was in Burkina Faso, he remarked that ethanol and bio-diesel could assist Africa along the pathway that would guarantee the continent's energy autonomy and economic sovereignty. Brazil and the United States signed a partnership, earlier this year, which would encourage ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean. The sugar cane industry is big business in Brazil and the companies involved are eager to promote ethanol as a global commodity. President Lula sees bio-fuels as a way to increase Brazilian influence in the developing world. Environmentalists in Brazil are concerned about the rapid expansion of the sugar cane plantations as this could harm sensitive ecosystems such as the Brazilian Savannah.