Poor countries urged to use their collective power

The patrons of the trilateral, developmental initiative met in Tshwane today

Brazilian President Lula Da Silva has called on poor countries to use their collective power to influence global transformation. He was speaking in Tshwane this morning at opening of the second India, Brazil, and South Africa summit, known as IBSA.

Top level government officials and business people are talking boosted trade and investment. Various agreements are expected to be signed later today in the areas of energy and ICT. The three presidents are pushing for the transformation of multilateral institutions. They are leading the G20 group of developing countries in the World Trade negotiations.

President Da Silva said a fair global trade deal was possible. However, he stressed that developing nations should not settle any deal that would disadvantage the poor.