Brazil Trade Talks Overshadowed By Menezes Shooting

Britain and Brazil promised today to join forces to unblock the current round of world trade negotiations - during talks in London overshadowed by the police shooting of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes.

Flanked by the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Downing Street, Tony Blair demanded a meeting of international heads of government to hammer out a trade deal, after talks in Hong Kong stalled last year.

But he was also forced to express his regret at the death of Mr. de Menezes at Stockwell tube station, and reiterate his full support for the Met police commissioner Sir Ian Blair.

That killing, last July, has overshadowed the first state visit of President Lula to Britain. Mr. Blair accepted the two men had talked about the tragedy in private.

The Brazilian president will meet the family of Mr. de Menezes today, but said the British people had been "very understanding" about the incident.

However, both men stressed the need to further develop Brazil’s status as world leader in biofuels in the race to combat climate change.

Mr. Blair also pledged UK support for Brazil’s demand for a permanent seat on the UN security council.

And turning to world trade talks, where Brazil is the leading nation within the G20 group of developing nations, Mr. Blair said the two men were agreed on the need for a "bold and ambitious" trade settlement.

"The potential benefits of a dynamic and ambitious round are there not just for the developing countries and those countries that are most developed, but also for the poorest countries in the world," Mr. Blair told a joint news conference.

Their talks - at the end of Mr. Da Silva’s state visit to Britain - take place on the eve of a three-day meeting in London of trade ministers from the G6 group of the European Union, the United States, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan.

It follows the failure of the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December to reach a comprehensive agreement which would have opened up international markets to producers from the world’s poorest countries.

Mr Blair said that the world was facing a "huge moment of decision".

"This is a moment in which it is essential that we show the leadership necessary to break through the obstacles and have that ambitious round," he said.

"The result of an ambitious round would be felt in greater prosperity, more jobs and greater social justice."

The president, universally known as Lula, said: "I am convinced that the United Kingdom and Brazil together will make a crucial contribution to unblock the Doha round at the WTO.

"To that end, we will work to convince other world leaders about the need for an agreement that would help developing countries and especially the poorest countries."

A fresh meeting of leaders could give a "decisive push" to the negotiations.

"We need concrete, urgent measures to be taken to make our global order more balanced and more equitable."

Downing Street earlier announced that Mr. Blair will leave tonight for a visit to Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Mr. Blair will visit Bratislava tonight then fly on to Prague tomorrow.

Mr. Blair’s official spokesman said: "These are visits which were arranged during our talks on the EU budget. There was a request for him to go both to Slovakia and the Czech Republic and he is happy to do so.

"Clearly we do have considerable interests in common with the accession countries and we will be discussing them."