MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula to push for biofuels in UN climate talks

Lula will deliver his UN speech on Tuesday

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will promote the country's biofuel initiatives during the United Nation's annual general assembly meeting next week, as part of a broader effort to fight climate change.

Lula will deliver his speech on Tuesday during the opening of the assembly, one day after attending a high-level private dinner called by the U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon to foster discussions on climate change, said the head of the Brazilian permanent mission to the United Nations, ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti. "It is expected that Lula will talk a lot about climate change, and biofuels in that context, besides the reform of the U.N. security council, development and social inclusion," Viotti told journalists. Twelve world leaders are invited for the Monday's dinner at the U.N's headquarters, including the presidents of the United States, Indonesia, South Africa, France, Mexico, Benin, and the European Commission, as well as the prime ministers of Germany, Portugal, Canada, and Antigua and Barbuda. "Ban Ki-moon wants to give a political boost to the Bali meeting," Viotti said, referring to the U.N. convention on climate change scheduled for December in the Indonesian island. Brazil's is a pioneer in developing biodiesel, and currently the world's largest exporter of ethanol. European countries have recently raised environmental concerns about the production of ethanol, in a move seen by the Brazilian government as an attempt to undermine the country's biofuels production.