07 March 2006

ActionAid today urged Brazilian president Lula da Silva to maintain resistance against wealthy nations' pressure to agree a trade deal which the aid agency says would threaten the livelihoods of millions of people in the world's poorest countries.

The alert came as Lula began the first visit to Britain by a Brazilian premier since 1997, before his foreign affairs minister, Celso Amorim, joins a crisis summit in London intended to break global deadlock.

Lula will hold discussions with British prime minister Tony Blair on Thursday, the eve of talks between trade ministers of the G6 group of nations - Brazil, India, the EU, the US, Japan and Australia.

The G6 summit, from Friday 10 March until Sunday 12 March, will attempt to advance negotations which ended in only partial agreement at the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December.

ActionAid policy officer Tom Sharman said: "Brazil, together with India, have played a major role in keeping the European and US trade superpowers at bay by refusing to sign up to the more extreme rich world proposals.

"These would have forced poor countries to open their markets to foreign competition for some of their services and make dramatic cuts in taxes on imports of industrial goods.

"We hope Lula will use his UK visit to underline that Brazil will stand firm against pressure from wealthy nations to agree plans which would hit many poor people."