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DE RUEHBR #1973/01 2611857
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181857Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6688
INFO RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 5461
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 8064
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 2893
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 5671
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 3931
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RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 3435
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RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 3171
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6472
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 1971
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 5788
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHEBAAA/USDOE WASHDC
RUCPDO/USDOC WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001973 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD PGOV PREL EFIN EINV BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMBASSADOR FURTHER DISCUSSES BIOFUELS WITH DILMA 
ROUSSEFF 
 
REF: (A) BRASILIA 1784, (B) BRASILIA 1934 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Ambassador Sobel, accompanied by PolCouns and 
Special Assistant, met with President Lula's Chief of Staff, 
Minister Dilma Rousseff, on September 12 to discuss biofuels issues. 
 Rousseff said the U.S. and Brazil need to move quickly on biofuels, 
but first must work through their bilateral policy relationship 
before going forward with cooperation in third countries or 
determining which resources may be tapped to put the policy into 
action.  Minister Rousseff expressed great interest in meeting with 
interlocutors on biofuels (and other issues) while in New York the 
week of September 18 and on a future trip to Washington before the 
end of the year.  See action request para 7.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On September 12, the Ambassador met again with President 
Lula's Chief of Staff, Dilma Rousseff, to discuss biofuels issues. 
(Previous meeting reported Ref A.)  The Ambassador reported that his 
meetings in the U.S. on biofuels focused on how to expand the 
opportunity of biofuels development to third countries.  He 
reiterated the complexity of the USG interagency process, but 
expressed our interest in still moving forward quickly.  Dilma 
Rousseff again expressed a strong interest in cooperating with the 
USG.  She followed-up by saying that for the last three months the 
GOB has been attempting to "put its house in order" for both 
internal coordination (within the many GOB ministries with a hand in 
the pot, Petrobras, environmental considerations, research 
institutions and the private sector) and their existing commitments 
and agreements with third countries. 
 
¶3. (U) Rousseff indicated that cooperation with the USG would also 
require coordinating our existing agreements, MOUs, or other 
consultative mechanisms.  She specifically cited the NIST/INMETRO 
(US National Institute of Standards and Technology and Brazilian 
National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial 
Quality) technical meetings in Rio September 17-22 on ethanol 
standards, the GOB's history of cooperation with DOE's National 
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and existing (but unspecified) 
arrangements with the USDA.  Rousseff said that, given the number of 
areas in which we are already cooperating on biofuels (directly or 
indirectly), that we should tap this "creativity" into a more 
productive relationship.  As one specific example, she said she 
anticipates, like the Brazilians' ability to develop soy crops that 
were well adapted to Brazilian lands, that the development of seed 
varieties is one additional area to pursue. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Rousseff agrees on the need to hurry the process along and 
emphasized that now is "the right moment to capitalize" on the 
collective experience of the U.S. and Brazil in this area.  She 
insisted, however, that the USG and GOB must iron out their 
bilateral policy first before proceeding with any discussions 
regarding cooperation in third countries or which external resources 
could be tapped to assist with implementation.  She was also frank 
in admitting that progress would be slow for the next few weeks 
given the upcoming elections, but that (unlike other ministers) she 
was still focused specifically on the current government's agenda 
items.  Rousseff is proud of what Brazil has accomplished in their 
"20 years" of experience and research in biofuels, and (as reported 
in Ref B), is driving the GOB train. 
 
¶5. (U) Rousseff is very interested in meeting with USG and private 
sector interlocutors on biofuels and other issues, and expressed 
great interest in the Ambassador's offer to assist in scheduling 
such meetings.  Rousseff plans to be in New York September 19-22, 
and is considering a trip to Washington in the November/December 
timeframe. 
 
¶6. (U) Comment.  Embassy Brazil is coordinating the appropriate 
meetings with Washington.  Subsequent to the Ambassador's meeting, 
Rousseff was scheduled to meet with U/S Josette Sheenan while they 
are both in New York this week.  End Comment. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Action Request:  The Brazilians are interested in learning 
more about how we can work together, and Mission Brazil requests 
permission to release at the earliest opportunity the seven country 
 
BRASILIA 00001973  002 OF 002 
 
 
"Latin America and Biofuels Strategy" (currently being coordinated 
in S/P at the Department) to Rousseff and our other Brazilian 
interlocutors. 
 
CHICOLA