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P 111738Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7632
INFO RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 002588 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USAID FOR LAC 
STATE PASS USTR FOR S.CRONIN 
USDA FOR FAS 
NSC FOR FEARS 
USDOC FOR 4332/ITA/MAC/WH/OLAC/JANDERSEN/ADRISCOLL/MWAR D 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USCS/OIO/WH/RD/SHUPKA 
DOE FOR S.LADISLAW 
 
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