By Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle
BRASILIA, March 24 (Reuters) – Brazil and China are in talks to create a fund to finance the development of green industry and renewable energy in both countries, two senior Brazilian officials told Reuters.
The proposal could be announced during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to Beijing next week, although Brazilian government officials said some details remained to be worked out.
“I don’t know if it will be possible to announce it, because these things are complex, but the idea is to have a bilateral fund (…) for investments in this area,” Lula’s top foreign policy adviser, Celso Amorim, told Reuters.
Amorim said he expects a deal on renewable energy during Lula’s visit, which includes a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday.
Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva, who will be part of Lula’s delegation, said the new fund under discussion would be used to recover forests and develop a more sustainable economy, including the production of green hydrogen.
“Our expectation is that we can have a climate change agenda that is strategic for the world, because it is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today,” Silva told Reuters.
He added, however, that China will not join the $1 billion Amazon Fund launched by Norway to finance sustainable development and protect the world’s largest rainforest, which Spain, France and the United Kingdom are considering joining and the United States. United States has pledged to support. (Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Anthony Boadle Additional reporting by Jake Spring Editing in Spanish by Aida Peláez-Fernández)
Source: Ambito
