Lula tells US:

Respect WTO

Brazil: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked the US government for respect to the decision of the World Trade Organization against the subsidies of Washington to its cotton producers.

Brazil does not have any interest in a confrontation with the US, but it is interested in the US to respect the WTO decisions, as much as Brazil will respect the WTO decisions against Brazil, said Lula da Silva at the opening of a energy generating plant in Cubatao, state of Sao Paulo.

Lula said this topic is taking a great part of the headings in Brazilian newspapers and magazines, talking about a commercial confrontation between US and Brazil, after Brazil was the winner in the discussion on the price of cotton, taken to the WTO and processed for eight years.

In November 2009 the WTO authorized Brazil to sanction US goods, products, articles, intellectual property and services from US for 829 million dollars a year, as long as Washington keeps the subsidies to cotton producers from Brazil.

"It doesn't matter how big a country may be; it doesn't matter how rich it is. We are all sovereign countries, all of us want to be treated in equality of conditions, and we want to be respected, we want WTO to be respected," he stated.

"We have competition, land, sun, water and technology, to compete with the US, China and France," he said referring to the cotton producers, and stated that it is the chance to call the world producers for an African producer to sell cotton to the US and the European Union.

"In that way, trade will be fairer, the world will be a better world, and we will have less wars and much more peace," he finally stated.

Sao Paulo, Prensa Latina