RIYADH: Brazil, which pledged “to boost energy cooperation” with Saudi Arabia here yesterday, has declined to become a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) despite the discovery of massive crude oil reserves there.
“Brazil, on the other hand, has planned to refine, not export, its crude oil,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is on a landmark visit to the Kingdom, told a crowded press conference here.
Lula, however, did not completely rule out the possibility of joining OPEC. “Brazil would not be an exporter of oil, rather we would build large refineries in our country and export petroleum products with added value ... And then afterward, if it becomes necessary to talk about Brazil joining OPEC, then we will do so,” said the president, while referring to his talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and other senior Saudi and GCC officials.
He said that the new oil discovery in large amounts might give Brazil a powerful status as a producer. He pointed out that the Carioca field off the coast of Brazil is 170 miles offshore, more than 6,000 feet below the surface of the water and trapped beneath a shelf of salt 500 miles long and 125 miles wide. “It is a major deposit, but we still don’t know fully as to how much crude oil is there,” he said.
Referring to cooperation in agriculture sector, Lula said that “Brazil can be a strategic partner for the Kingdom in food security.” Several Saudi and Brazilian companies, he said, had evinced keen interest in establishing projects to help supply food such as wheat, barley, rice and soya beans etc.
At the news conference, Lula also reaffirmed Brazil’s desire to play a more effective role in the Middle East peace process. “I defend the right to create a Palestinian state.”
In reply to a question about reforms in the United Nations, the president called on the international community to proceed with the reforms and expressed the idea of the representation of Brazil on the Security Council. He said everyone agreed on the need for UN reforms, but there is disagreement on what kind of reform is needed.
“Brazil, Germany, Japan and India have made their candidacies clear for the UN berths, but there can be countries from the Middle East and Africa as well,” said the Brazilian president, who wrapped up his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia last night.
He said that there was tremendous scope of cooperation in the mining sector too. The Kingdom is interested in cooperating with the Brazilian mining giant Vale Company, which is perfectly “capable of exploiting any kind of ore, even bauxite, which is in abundance in Saudi Arabia,” Lula noted.
Speaking earlier at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lula told Saudi and Brazilian businessmen that stronger economic ties would leave both nations less vulnerable to the kind of turmoil now besetting leading global economies. “I am here because we need to find new partners,” he added. Two business agreements were also signed yesterday — the first on petrochemicals cooperation between the Brazilian state oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and the Saudi firm Modern Chemicals.
The second was a joint venture to produce human insulin for the Gulf region, which suffers a high rate of diabetes. This accord was signed between the Brazilian biotech firm Biomm SA and the Saudi Gabas group. Lula, who was decorated with the King Abdulaziz Medal by King Abdullah, said that energy and agriculture were the two main areas in which the two countries can cooperate and achieve a lot.
On Saturday night, the Brazilian president conferred on King Abdullah the “National Order of the Southern Cross,” the highest order of merit given as an act of foreign relations by the Brazilian government. President Lula also visited the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) yesterday where he was received by SAGIA Gov. Amr Al-Dabbagh, who explained the Kingdom’s plans and investment avenues, its strategies and economy.
