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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001933 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR GMANUEL AND JMIOTKE 
PLEASE PASS TO DOE SLADISLAW AND KFREDRIKSEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TRGY SENV ENRG KSCA ETRD EAGR BR
SUBJECT: USG PRESENTS ETHANOL COOPERATION STRATEGY TO BRAZIL'S MFA 
 
BRASILIA 00001933  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Greg Manuel of the Department of State and Sarah Ladislaw 
from the Department of Energy (DoE), accompanied by Matthew Golden 
and Morgan Perkins from Mission Brazil, met with the MFA's U/S 
Patriota and Minister Antonio Simoes, on September 5, to discuss 
bilateral, biofuel cooperation.  The meeting provided Manuel and 
Ladislaw an opportunity to lay out the USG's global three-tiered 
biofuel strategy and to present options for future high-level 
meetings between the USG and GoB.  On the flip side, the meeting 
revealed that the MFA is no longer responsible for the GoB's 
international biofuel policy and, moreover, that the GoB is 
reorganizing the government's biofuel hierarchy.  The meeting was 
held on the margins of the Ethanol Forum meeting on September 5 
(reported septel). End Summary 
 
¶2. (U) Manuel opened the meeting by articulating the USG's plan for 
bilateral biofuel cooperation.  The program is three-pronged and 
involves science and technology collaboration, third-market 
development (to catalyze production and scale) and the Global 
Ethanol Forum.  He proceeded to identify third-market development 
targets in the Western Hemisphere, including Haiti, the Dominican 
Republic and St. Kitts in the Caribbean; Guatemala and El Salvador 
in Central America; and Colombia and Bolivia in South America.  St. 
Kitts, he emphasized, due to the island's size, geography and 
existing infrastructure make it an ideal choice to create a 
successful pilot on which to base other third-market interventions. 
Following on this rationale, the Department, according to Manuel, 
split the choices regionally to maintain an independent focus and to 
keep from pinning success on any one region or any one country.  In 
closing, Manuel underscored the urgency of the matter for the USG 
and noted the importance of obtaining a sense of commitment from 
Brazil at the earliest possible opportunity. 
 
¶3. (U) Ladislaw then provided the background for the partnership's 
proposed S&T element.  She explained that the DoE is one of the 
principal USG organizations in terms of biofuel R&D, and described 
the USG's desire to compare how the U.S. and Brazil approach both 
biofuel research and resource allocation.  Ladislaw suggested 
utilizing the DoE-MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) Energy Working 
Group to begin sharing technical data and further espoused the 
crossover with the NIST-INMETRO partnership to develop biofuel 
standards.  Ladislaw noted that the DoE had already contacted the 
MME's Rubens Barbosa to find an appropriate date for the Energy 
Working Group to meet. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Patriota responded noncommittally stating that the GoB 
would take these ideas under consideration.  He also noted, 
revealing a certain degree of caution, that the MFA would have to 
vet the proposals through the Casa Civil, which would affect the 
response.  He clarified that the GoB's own interagency working group 
had met for the first time the previous Friday and was only just 
beginning to detail its list of activities.  Patriota also let slip 
that Lula's Chief of Staff, Dilma Rousseff, is planning to 
reorganize the structure of the biofuel policy-making apparatus and 
would create a new Biofuel Council; although, the exact make-up was 
yet to be determined.  Although this will affect the MFA's agenda, 
Patriota surmised that the GoB agrees, at least in concept, to the 
USG's proposed ideas; he emphasized the GoB's current ethanol 
development initiatives in Jamaica and Barbados. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In terms of the countries Manuel identified, Patriota 
confirmed that Haiti is a huge priority for the GoB and, being open 
and frank, noted that Brazil would find it much easier to cooperate 
in Central America and the Caribbean than in South America.  He 
explained that the myriad of South American regional integration 
activities and the resultant sensitivities involved would make it 
extremely difficult for Brazil to partner with the U.S. in the 
region.  However, he proclaimed that Guatemala and St. Kitts would 
be well received, and believed that while El Salvador was not a GoB 
priority it was geopolitically benign.  Simoes summed up that 
Brazil, like the U.S., would need to determine the countries it was 
interested in geopolitically, run feasibility studies to assess 
individual situations and then coordinate with the USG to determine 
what assets each country could bring to the table. 
 
¶6. (U) In addition to the aforementioned themes, discussions also 
touched on high-level meeting opportunities.  Both sides took note 
of the Rice-Amorim meeting scheduled for September 23 at UNGA. 
Manuel also presented U/S Shiner's desire to meet with Patriota 
sometime in October or November.  The discussion also highlighted 
the need for the GoB to deconflict the Ethanol Forum with Italy's 
GBEP (Global Bioenergy Partnership).  Patriota agreed that the GoB 
and GoI should work together to ensure that the Ethanol Forum and 
GBEP did not have competing agendas.  He promised that the GoB would 
 
BRASILIA 00001933  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
raise the issue with Italy at the earliest opportunity. (Note: 
Earlier in the day, Simoes stated that Brazil had not been invited 
to join GBEP) 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment: The meeting provided two definitive outcomes.  It 
clearly illustrated the MFA's interest in pursuing a coopertive, 
bilateral relationship with the USG to promote biofuels. 
Simultaneously, it demonstrated that Itamaraty is not in charge of 
Brazil's domestic or international biofuel policy.  That 
responsibility lies with the Casa Civil and Dilma Rousseff.  Future 
entreaties to cooperation and attempts to influence policy should 
include the Casa Civil.  In the interim, despite pleas for an 
expeditious answer, it is extremely unlikely that the GoB will 
assent to cooperate prior to its October elections and, after these, 
until its biofuel policy matrix is organized. End Comment 
 
SOBEL