Agência Brasil*
Brasília – Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva telephoned the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to discuss talks in the scope of the Doha Rounds of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This information was supplied by the Press Advisory for the Ministry of Foreign Relations
In a conversation with Merkel, Lula stressed the importance of calling a meeting of the leaders of developed and developing countries to overcome the bottlenecks to the advances of WTO negotiations. According to the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), the German chancellor agrees that the negotiations must proceed and said she would get in contact with the remaining members of the European Union to discuss the matter.
In the conversation with Mbeki, the Brazilian president suggested the organization of a meeting to discuss the Doha Rounds during the Progressive Governance Summit, scheduled to take place between February 11 and 12 in South Africa. Mbeki agreed the Progressive Governance Summit would be appropriate to discuss the matter with other African heads of state and government, according to the Itamaraty.
*Translated by Mark Ament
