 COTONOU - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Benin counterpart Mathieu Kerekou have called for the cancellation of all debt owed by poor nations to the industrialised world.
| Or at least raise their credit limit. |
The two leaders, in a joint statement after talks here Friday, also called on developed nations to phase out subsidies on their agricultural products, seen as hurting farmers in poorer countries.
During two sets of talks, Kerekou and Lula “put the accent on the need to promote North-South cooperation,” the joint statement said.
"You give us money and cancel our debt."
"What will you do in return?"
"We'll cooperate."
"Cooperate on what?"
"Um ... we'll think of something." |
Benin and Brazil also reaffirmed “the necessity to reform the UN, in order to make it more democratic and more representative of the political configuration and the prevailing world economy”. Kerekou said he supported Brazil gaining a seat on the UN Security Council.
| So that they can ... cancel all the debts! |
The two countries also signed cooperation deal on ports, cotton processing and the fight against malaria and announced that they would exchange diplomatic missions in Benin and Brasilia later this year. |