On the first day of his visit to France, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke to students and professors at the University of the Sorbonne for over half an hour abut Brazil’s role on the international stage.
Since yesterday, July 12, the university has been holding a colloquium on “Brazil: Global Actor.”
Lula referred to the government’s efforts on behalf of a fairer system of international trade and the war on global hunger and poverty.
He underscored that this responsibility pertains not only to Brazil but to all nations. “The problem of hunger and underdevelopment will not be resolved solely by market forces,” he emphasized.
In the President’s view, agricultural subsidies, especially those granted by the richest nations, represent one of the factors contributing to the perpetuation of hunger in the world.
“It is neither humane nor rational for a cow to receive a subsidy larger than the personal income of hundreds of millions of men and women all over the world,” he commented.
According to Lula, a World Bank study concluded that the liberalization of agricultural trade would raise global earnings by US$ 200 billion, which could lift more than 500 million people above the poverty line.
“Brazil wants its voice to be heard more and more on the international stage, but we also want to hear other countries’ voices, to identify common interests and intensify dialogue and cooperation,” he added.
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