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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Snowshoe who wrote (63621)	5/14/2010 5:54:44 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 217551

Brazil's Lula in Russia ahead of 'last chance' Iran trip Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Friday gave his Brazilian counterpart little chance of success in upcoming nuclear talks with Iran, warning the meeting could be the last chance before sanctions. Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held talks with Medvedev at the Kremlin, ahead of Lula's trip to Tehran starting Sunday to meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a bid to defuse tensions over Iran's nuclear programme. "Since my friend Lula is an optimist, I will also be an optimist -- I give it a 30 percent chance," a grinning Medvedev told reporters after Lula said he was optimistic about his chances of convincing Iran to be more cooperative. Lula is in Moscow for a two-day visit that began Thursday for talks that also included a meeting with Russia's most powerful politician, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Medvedev said Tehran was running out of opportunities for talks over its nuclear programme before sanctions are imposed. "It may be the last chance before the adoption of appropriate decisions within the framework of the (United Nations) Security Council," Medvedev said of Lula's visit. "I am calling on the Iranian leadership to heed the arguments that Brazil's president will bring forward." Medvedev's comments echoed the position of the United States, where a senior State Department official said this week that Lula's visit to Iran may be the last opportunity for the Islamic republic to show goodwill. The plan aims to allay Western concerns that Iran might otherwise covertly enrich some of its uranium stocks to the much higher level required for a nuclear bomb. "I was optimistic yesterday, I am much more optimistic today and maybe I will be even more optimistic tomorrow," Lula said when asked about the chances he could influence the Iranians. "I must now use everything I have learned over my long political career to convince my friend Ahmadinejad to come to an agreement with the international community," he said through a translator. Brazil is resisting a US-led push for new UN sanctions against Iran and Russia has also insisted on a diplomatic solution, even though it now appears more open to sanctions. The US State Department has indicated that time is running out before it puts forward a sanctions resolution in the Security Council. Underlining the increasingly close relationship between emerging market allies Russia and Brazil, Medvedev also said they agreed to promote trading in national currencies. "We have agreed with Mr. President that we will create a working group that will promote the theme of transactions in national currencies," Medvedev said. "It is of exceptional importance both for stable economic development of our countries and for a better balance of the international financial system." The Kremlin has long sought to weaken the grip of the dollar on the world economy. Along with China and India, Russia and Brazil are part of the so-called BRIC group of the world's major emerging economies. Medvedev said he and Lula agreed their countries would expand cooperation in nuclear energy, oil and gas and aerospace. Lula added Russia could help Brazil develop its recently discovered oil deposits as well as shipbuilding and rail transportation. The two leaders signed a strategic partnership agreement that will allow the two countries to form what the Kremlin said would be "a technological alliance between Russia and Brazil." Putin said later in the day that Russia and Brazil had "grandiose plans in energy, high-tech, space and agriculture."