Cablegate: Brazil: Biofuels Cooperation: 2nd Preparatory Meeting Of

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG SENV PREL EINV ECON BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: BIOFUELS COOPERATION: 2ND PREPARATORY MEETING OF
GLOBAL BIOFUELS FORUM

REF: BRASILIA 2544

1. (SBU) Summary: The Second Preparatory Meeting of the Global
Biofuels Forum, held in Rio de Janeiro on 27 and 28 November,
achieved consensus on priorities and next steps for the group.
Gregory Manuel, Special Advisor to the Secretary and International
Energy Coordinator, and Lisa Kubiske, Director of WHA/EPSC,
represented the U.S. Five other countries attended: Brazil (the
host), China, India, South Africa, and the European Union. The
forum's goal is to establish a cooperative arrangement among the six
participants and to facilitate development of an international
market for liquid biofuels. Short and long-term objectives,
standardization, environmental and social impacts, development and
job creation were all discussed. The importance of
information/technology exchange, communication, and achieving
progress at a fairly rapid rate were all stressed. Plans are to
hold a Ministerial-level meeting in early February. End Summary.

2. The forum moderator, Brazilian Foreign Ministry Under Secretary
and soon to be Ambassador to the U.S. Patriota, moderated the forum.
He requested that each delegation identify its priorities for the
forum; after each delegation spoke, Patriota adroitly summarized its
priorities.

3. (SBU) The U.S. delegation lauded the structure of the forum. For
the first time, said Manuel, all the right players were represented.
Information exchange, the accelerated development of feasibility
studies, collaborative R&D, establishing uniform standards and codes
-- a key prerequisite to making biofuels more easily traded
commodities -- and the integration of the private sector were all
paramount objectives, he stressed.

4. (SBU) China insisted that the term "biofuels" be limited to
liquid, not gaseous or solid biofuels. (This had already been
implicitly understood by the other parties.) In addition, China
wished to define standards and to have a clear Memorandum of
Understanding between the parties.

5. (SBU) India stressed the social objectives of the project,
focusing on rural economies, generation of employment, and aspects
of technology transfer such as seed varieties, soil, pesticides, and
waste management.

6. (SBU) The EU was pleased that the forum encompasses more than
ethanol and extends to other biofuels, and concerned that the needs
of developing countries and the environment be considered. Like the
other countries, the EU sought standardization. The EU delegate
also suggested the inclusion of additional countries such as
Indonesia and Malaysia in the forum.

7. (SBU) South Africa echoed the others, stressing the need to
recognize the diverse developments within the biofuels sector,
establish terms of reference as well as strong working groups and
procedures, and focus on job creation.

8. (SBU) U/S Patriota next presented his delegation's view. Brazil
also would like to facilitate access to the biofuels sectors in
other developing countries, he said. Patriota mentioned an article
recently written by the former president of Senegal, indicating that
the 13 nations of the Pan-African Non-Petroleum Producing Nations
would like to follow in Brazil's footsteps in terms of biofuels.
Brazil proposed that the forum might consider opening up to other
countries at some point. However, Brazil and all other parties
agreed to currently keep the forum to the six existing participants,
in order to streamline processes and better achieve consensus. (At
another point, Patriota suggested that the Forum operate only as
long as desirable, and that participants could decide in a year or
two whether to continue it.)

9. (SBU) U/S Patriota proposed that all the priorities mentioned
form the basis for a ministerial declaration to formally launch the
Global Biofuels Forum. Brazil will take charge of preparing a draft
for comment of the forum declaration. All participants agreed that
it will be important to spell out the organizational aspects in the
declaration's text. Brazil also proposed that the Forum meet every
three months at the senior-official level, with working group
meetings convened at different venues during the intervening
periods. Initially discussed as four potential working groups, it
was agreed that reducing the number of working groups to two would

BRASILIA 00002588 002 OF 002

be more realistic. Working Group 1 will focus on information
exchange and partnership, and will encompass the economic, social,
development and environmental factors mentioned by several
delegations. As part of this, there may be a series of technical
meetings to devise a system of information sharing and exchange as
suggested by the US delegation, a sort of wiki-style platform (an
online, collaborative tool). U/S Patriota noted that the forum will
not have a secretariat or staff, so expectations regarding
information exchange should be kept realistic. Working Group 2 will
focus on standards and codes as a prerequisite for the
commoditization of liquid ethanol and biodiesel.

10. (SBU) Brazil plans to host an expert-level meeting in its
mission in Geneva on December 18 (to be confirmed), and will draft
the text for the announcement of the forum. At that point, it is
hoped that consensus will be achieved by all delegations on the
draft, to come very close to the text that would be presented at a
Ministerial-level meeting. Despite voicing potential problems
regarding visas or dates, overall, third country delegations seemed
interested in sending representatives to that event.

11. (SBU) The Ministerial was initially proposed for 29 January, but
at least one delegation had indicated that date would not be
possible (Chinese New Year is 29 January). The new target will be
during the first half of February -- before Carnival, and trying to
take into account other national holidays or difficult periods. U/S
Patriota requested flexibility and indicated that if it would be
helpful, he could request that President Lula send letters of
invitation to the Ministerial to the various forum members'
governments.

12. (SBU) Other biofuels-related meetings are also planned outside
of the forum: a) Brazil plans to hold a global biofuels conference
at the end of 2007. Patriota indicated that more realistically,
this would take place in the first part of 2008; b) The Brazilian
private sector association of approximately 100 sugar producers,
UNICA, plans to host an ethanol summit in June 2007 in Sao Paulo;
and c) The EU delegate indicated that the EU plans to host an
international biofuels conference in mid-2007, probably July. This
idea was raised by EC President Barroso during his visit to Brazil
last year.

13. (U) This cable was cleared by the U.S. delegation prior to its
transmission.

WILLIAMSON

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