Brazil’s Lula in Davos Urges End to Farm Subsidies

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Brazilian President Lula in DavosBefore a multinational audience composed of entrepreneurs and heads of state attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva once again asked all countries to commit themselves to the global war on hunger and poverty.

Lula participated, January 28, in one of the Forum’s sessions, entitled “Funding the War on Poverty.” The president of Microsoft, Bill Gates, British Treasury Secretary, Gordon Brows, and the Italian Minister of Economy, Domenico Siniscalco, joined Lula on the dais.


Lula called for an end to the agricultural subsidies granted to local producers and entrepreneurs in the rich countries.


“It is necessary to establish policies that enable poor countries to sell and produce agricultural products. This is a structural question,” the President alerted.


The President recalled the advance represented by the committment assumed last September in New York by various national leaders at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. According to the President, at the time a proposal was made to create a fund financed by taxing arms sales.


“It could be [a tax] on commercial transactions, money derived from tax havens, something robust and intended for the poor countries,” Lula suggested.


“The name of the fund is immaterial, what matters is for us to assume the commitment that a small share of the money that circulates in the world be used to constitute a large fund so that we can dream of a more just world 20 or 30 years from now,” he declared.


Lula had already called on foreign entrepreneurs to contribute 0.01% of all their financial investments to the campaign against global hunger and extreme poverty. A minimal rate of 0.01% would provide US$ 17 billion per year.


Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil’s Satellite Pictures for Sale

One of the bilateral endeavors that Brazil and China are working together on is ...

Brazil’s Rice Farmers Invade Indian Land and Defy Authorities

The removal of invaders from the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land, in the ...

Hurting the Amazon

Currently, there are 165,000 square kilometers of cleared and abandoned lands in the Amazon, ...

Opposition Warns Morales’s Tough Talk Will Alienate Brazil and Isolate Bolivia

Bolivian opposition leaders warned Evo Morales’ tough stance on foreign energy companies facing nationalization ...

US Group Asks for End to Steel Duties Against Brazil

Members of the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) testified today at the International Trade Commission’s ...

A Cinematic Sensibility

Rich and powerful to the point of arrogance, when it cannot beat the competition, ...

Typical Brazilian Sex Slaves Taken Overseas Are Girls 18 to 21 Years Old

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), young women, between ...

Rural Exodus in Brazil High Among Young Women

A survey by Brazil’s Applied Economic Research Institute (Ipea) has found that although the so-called ...

Otaviano Canuto: This Brazilian Keeps an Eye on the World’s Poverty

Who is the World Bank Vice President of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management ...

Despite Assurances to FIFA Brazil’s Infrastructure for World Cup Still Far from Ideal

In a gesture to calm things down Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, assured ...