Britain, Brazil and a shared vision (Op-Ed by Tony Blair and Lula da Silva)

Times of London ^ | March 9, 2006 | Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Lula da Silva

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The British Prime Minister and the Brazilian President write for Times Online on two nations committed to working together

It is a commonplace to say that our globalising world needs international co-operation more than ever before. But actually we also need a shared understanding and a shared vision.

Three weeks ago during the Progressive Governance Summit hosted by Thabo Mbeki, our meeting underlined once again that, to both of us, progressive governance isn’t just about sharing experiences on the domestic front. It is also about a shared approach to international challenges.

We must ensure that the benefits of globalisation are felt by the poor as well as, if not more than the rich. This is a challenge to international economic and political governance that we are determined to take up together.

Both our countries are committed to an ambitious outcome from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to help lift millions of people out of poverty.  Developing countries, especially in Africa, need the opportunity to work themselves out of poverty - they do not want to rely on aid for ever.

We are determined not to allow the WTO talks to fail and share a common view on how to break the current log jam. A failure would not only be a wasted opportunity in the fight against poverty and for global prosperity but also a body blow to our commitment to multilateralism and a more open and rules-based world. We will look at convening a leaders' meeting in the coming months to help move things forward.

We agree as well on the vital importance of the world coming together to tackle the challenge of climate change. Both countries have reaffirmed their commitment to the United Nations framework convention on climate change and its Kyoto protocol. We are determined to do all we can to ensure that the new spirit of consensus and co-operation reached at Gleneagles becomes a foundation for a wider long-term agreement. This is one of the areas of science and technology where we want to encourage a quicker transfer of knowledge and co-operation between our two countries.

Our two nations, of course, are different in terms of geography, climate and of economic development. But the challenge is to enable emerging economies to achieve rising prosperity in a sustainable way. This means sharing experiences and clean technology, providing the investment to allow it to be developed and harnessed across the world. This will not be one-way traffic. Although Brazil has no formal obligation to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, it is already a world leader in the use of bioethanol as fuel. Such alternative sources of energy – which now include biodiesel -- can help slow climate change and reduce poverty. We are already working together on this.

Both Brazil and Britain, and our citizens, believe the world must do more to tackle global poverty and disease and see proper education and healthcare extended to all. Our support for the international finance facility for immunisation, and for the international air travel levy, shows our determination to find innovative approaches harnessing the public and private sectors to address today’s challenges.

We are also working together to improve global governance and to make multilateral institutions more representative and effective. This can only be helped by recognising the increasing importance of emerging powers such as Brazil. So the UK strongly supports Brazil’s bid for permanent membership of a reformed United Nations Security Council. But we also work closely together on wider United Nations reform, to make the organisation fit to meet the challenges ahead. We are also committed, in accordance with our national capacities, to contribute to the spread of peace and security around the world.

Our two countries have many links. Britain was one of the first countries to recognise the newly independent Brazil. British firms played a significant role through investment and expertise in putting in place the infrastructure that is the foundation of modern Brazil. And, of course, it was British engineers who first brought football to Brazil – a shared passion that links our countries to this day and that we hope will lead us both to the World Cup final this summer.

The strong friendship between our countries now owes as much to shared values and views of how we tackle the large global challenges as it does to football. We are sure that our friendship will continue to grow in the years to come.