MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina requested “energy aid” say Brazilian officials

Argentina has requested energy assistance from Brazil to overcome the very extreme winter the country is suffering, according to sources in Brasilia reports the Brazilian press.

Allegedly the request was done by Argentine President Nestor Kirchner to his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva during a private meeting in the framework of the recent Mercosur summit held in Asunción, Paraguay, according to Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy. So far Brazil has made no decision on the issue but "it?s under consideration" according to the press office from the Ministry. Since last month Brazil is supplying Argentina with 700 MW of electricity per day, mainly from a thermal unit established in the state of Parana. The business newspaper Valor anticipated that Brazil is considering increasing energy support to 1.100 MW per day. Valor also points out that the energy aid, according to President Lula da Silva?s interpretation has a strong ?political component? and requested his foreign policy advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia to address the matter. The Brazilian press points out that Argentina?s manufacturing sector face a serious energy rationing and even blackouts precisely at the moment President Kirchner launched the candidacy of her wife, Senator Cristina Fernandez, for the coming October presidential election.