Subject: Brazil's president meets with East Timor leaders, pledges support

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Brazil, Indonesia Presidents Pledge To Cooperate On Biofuels

Brazil's president meets with East Timor leaders, pledges support

The Associated Press

<http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/11/asia/AS-East-Timor-Brazil.php#>DILI, East Timor: Brazil's president vowed to support tiny East Timor during a brief stop Friday in the country, which ­ like his ­ was colonized by Portugal for hundreds of years.

"East Timor is a sovereign nation and worthy of our support," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an address to Parliament. "Brazil will help East Timor as much as we can."

East Timor Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa said Silva signed several agreements with the government aimed at boosting cooperation between the two countries, but provided few details.

East Timor, which endured 350 years of Portuguese rule before Indonesia invaded in 1975, voted for independence in a U.N.-backed referendum in 1999. Since then, it has struggled to maintain political stability and is often hit by social unrest. Its 900,000 people are among the poorest in Asia.

Silva, who attended the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Japan earlier this week, is to travel to Indonesia on Saturday before returning home.

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Brazil, Indonesia Presidents Pledge To Cooperate On Biofuels

JAKARTA, July 12 (AFP)--Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Indonesian counterpart pledged cooperation on biofuels during talks here Saturday in a bid to take advantage of surging oil prices.

Lula and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed off on an agreement to share knowledge on biofuel technology after meeting at Jakarta's presidential palace.

The Brazilian leader called spiraling global commodity prices a "great opportunity" for developing countries such as Indonesia and Brazil, both of which are major producers of biofuel.

"The developing countries that have the characteristics that Indonesia and Brazil have should not analyze this crisis as only a problem. We have to see this moment as a great opportunity," Lula said. "We have land, we have sunlight, we have water resources, we have technology and, thanks to God, the poor of the world have started to eat more, three meals a day, so they will demand more food production."

Lula's Indonesian visit is the final leg on an Asian tour that brought him to Vietnam and East Timor after going to Japan for the Group of Eight industrialized nations summit.


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