The 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit and the India-Brazil-South Africa Summit
The day after 9/11 remembrance ceremonies were held across the world, the global South will be holding two historic meetings over the coming days, that are a sign of changing geopolitics and power relations in the world.
The 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit (official website) is being held in Havana, Cuba, with a highpoint over the weekend when 50 heads of states meet. The historic NAM - which was formed at the Bandung Conference of 1955 as a neutral block of nations that took no side during the Cold War - has been an important engine for deepening south-south cooperation and multilateral alliances on the political front. The organisation died after the collapse of the Soviet Union and after the end of the Cold War, but has since been revived. Since 9/11, more and more non-Western countries see South South relations gaining in importance and the divide between the North and the South is getting bigger. The NAM counts 116 countries from the (rapidly developing) global south and will be addressing the world's most pressing problems, amongst which the fight against terrorism, nuclear proliferation and energy security.
Tomorrow (Wednesday September 13) Brasilia is host to the first "India-Brazil-South Africa Summit" (IBSA), which unites three of the most rapidly growing economies, that have been creating ever narrower ties on the front of economic and scientific cooperation, trade and cultural exchanges. The Summit is expected to yield concrete trilateral agreements on transport, agriculture, energy, trade facilitation and information and communication technology.
At both Summits, energy security, biofuels development and energy cooperation are high on the agenda. India for example already announced that it will sign a formal agreement with Brazil on acquiring vast tracts of sugar cane land to enhance energy security. South Africa and Brazil are expected to sign a deal on technical biofuel cooperation. That is why we will obviously follow the debates at these Summits and report about them here.
For now let us present some resources:
India-Brazil-South Africa Summit
14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: non-aligned movement :: IBSA :: developing world :: multilateralism :: energy :: south-south ::
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The 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit (official website) is being held in Havana, Cuba, with a highpoint over the weekend when 50 heads of states meet. The historic NAM - which was formed at the Bandung Conference of 1955 as a neutral block of nations that took no side during the Cold War - has been an important engine for deepening south-south cooperation and multilateral alliances on the political front. The organisation died after the collapse of the Soviet Union and after the end of the Cold War, but has since been revived. Since 9/11, more and more non-Western countries see South South relations gaining in importance and the divide between the North and the South is getting bigger. The NAM counts 116 countries from the (rapidly developing) global south and will be addressing the world's most pressing problems, amongst which the fight against terrorism, nuclear proliferation and energy security.
Tomorrow (Wednesday September 13) Brasilia is host to the first "India-Brazil-South Africa Summit" (IBSA), which unites three of the most rapidly growing economies, that have been creating ever narrower ties on the front of economic and scientific cooperation, trade and cultural exchanges. The Summit is expected to yield concrete trilateral agreements on transport, agriculture, energy, trade facilitation and information and communication technology.
At both Summits, energy security, biofuels development and energy cooperation are high on the agenda. India for example already announced that it will sign a formal agreement with Brazil on acquiring vast tracts of sugar cane land to enhance energy security. South Africa and Brazil are expected to sign a deal on technical biofuel cooperation. That is why we will obviously follow the debates at these Summits and report about them here.
For now let us present some resources:
India-Brazil-South Africa Summit
- Indian Express: PM meets Lula in Brasilia today
- Zee News: PM Manmohan Singh scheduled to reach Brasilia on historic visit -
- Peninsula Online: Key trade pacts likely during PM’s Brazil visit
- All Africa: Mbeki Leads SA Delegation to IBSA Summit
- Prensa Latina: South African Vice Prez in India
- The Hindu: South Africa plans boost to trade with India
- Press Information Bureau of India: Dramatic Increase in Intra IBSA trade - UNCTAD
- The Hindu: India, Brazil and South Africa to reach farm agreement
- India eNews: A prime ministerial visit to Brazil after 38 years
14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit
- Hindustan Times: 14th NAM Summit kicks off in Cuba
- Xinhua: Cuban FM calls on unity among NAM nations
- Hindustan Times: NAM slams terror, defends Iran's Nuclear action
- NDTV: NAM meeting condemns terror
- Mail & Guardian: NAM nations plan world in which 'peace can triumph'
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: non-aligned movement :: IBSA :: developing world :: multilateralism :: energy :: south-south ::
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Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Brazil's ethanol expansion to bring 3.6 million jobs by 2010
Now Brazil projects not less than 3.6 million jobs to arise out of its aggressive expansion of its sugarcane plantations, which it is currently undertaking. The country expects to more than double its annual exports of alcohol fuel, or ethanol, by 2010, Mines and Energy Minister Silas Rondeau says. Thanks to the rapid expansion of sugarcane areas, the country will export about 7.9 billion liters (2.1 billion gallons) of ethanol in 2010, up from current exports of about 3 billion liters (790 million gallons), Rondeau said at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference. [In 'barrel of oil equivalent' (boe) terms, we are talking about projected exports of roughly 100,000 boe/day].
"The potential for exports we have by 2010 is about 8 billion liters, generating about 3.6 million jobs directly and indirectly," Rondeau said in his opening remarks to the conference, which runs through Thursday.
Jobs will be created in sugar cane planting, harvesting, processing and transporting. Indirectly, the logistical sector involved in moving both raw materials, processed materials and finished goods will benefit (distribution, mixing, transmixing, storing, shipping), as well as trade, biotechnology and consultancy sectors. As always, it remains to be seen what the social and labor conditions of the workers at the bottom of the ethanol production pyramid are going to be.
Rondeau said thanks to an increase in the amount of area where sugarcane is planted Brazil's total production of ethanol is expected to rise to 26 billion liters (6.87 billion gallons) annually in 2010 up from the current production of around 16 billion liters (4.23 billion gallons) annually. [From roughly 193,000 boe/day to 313,000 boe/day].
Brazil is the world's second-biggest producer of ethanol after the United States and is the biggest exporter. Brazil also has the world's largest fleet of ethanol-powered cars _ seven out of every 10 new cars sold in Brazil are "flex fuel" vehicles that can run on gasoline, ethanol or any combination of the two. Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said it expected to sign a long-term contract to export ethanol to Venezuela:
ethanol :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: employment :: sugarcane :: trade :: Brazil ::
The company's downstream director Paulo Roberto Costa said the exact volume and terms of the contract were still being discussed.
Petrobras already has made two ethanol shipments of 6.6 million gallons each to Venezuela this year, and this week is shipping another 5 million gallons, Costa said.
Earlier this year, Petrobras said it planned to export 40 million gallons of ethanol to Venezuela in 2006.
Petrobras hopes the export volume in the planned contract with Venezuela will be larger than this year's shipment.
The company this year also is making two shipments of 5 million gallons of ethanol to Nigeria, Costa said. Petrobras is in negotiations with the African country over a long-term ethanol supply contract.
Petrobras has promised Venezuela and Nigeria that it would transfer ethanol production technology to enable those countries to build their own domestic ethanol industries.
Petrobras said it doesn't plan to begin producing ethanol but will continue to distribute and export it.
The company currently plans to build the world's first ethanol-only pipelines from producing regions in central Brazil to the coast.
Source: Chron: Brazil Ethanol Exports to Rise Sharply .
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