Brazil Comes to the Rescue of Argentina with Electricity

Argentina has requested energy assistance from Brazil to overcome the very extreme winter the country is suffering, according to sources in BrasÀ­lia, reports the Brazilian press. The request, these sources say, was done by Argentine President Nestor Kirchner in a private meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

According to Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy, both leaders had their private encounter during the recent Mercosur summit held in Asuncion, Paraguay,

So far Brazil has made no decision on the issue but "it's under consideration," according to the press office from the Ministry.

Since last month Brazil is supplying Argentina with 700 MW of electricity per day, mainly from a thermal unit established in the state of Paraná.

The business newspaper Valor anticipated that Brazil is considering increasing energy support to 1.100 MW per day.

Valor also points out that the energy aid, according to Lula's interpretation has a strong "political component" and requested his foreign policy advisor Marco Aurélio Garcia to address the matter.

The Brazilian press points out that Argentina's manufacturing sector face a serious energy rationing and even blackouts precisely at the moment President Kirchner launched the candidacy of her wife, Senator Cristina Fernandez, for the coming October presidential election.

Mercopress