Brazil's Lula, Cuba to Sign Deep-Water Oil Exploration Accords

Brazil's Lula, Cuba to Sign Deep-Water Oil Exploration Accords

By Romina Nicaretta and Andre Soliani

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
plans to sign agreements with Cuba during his visit this week to help
the island-nation begin deep-water oil exploration.

``I will sign several accords in Cuba,'' Lula said during his weekly
interview on Brazilian radio today. ``Brazil is interested in helping
Cuba discover whether they have oil in deep waters, as the country is
very close to the Mexican Gulf.''

Lula is traveling to Cuba for a second time since taking office in 2003
as Brazil seeks to boost investment and trade with the Caribbean island,
whose annual economic growth has exceeded 6 percent in each of the last
three years.

Higher growth rates have led to a surge in imports into Cuba, which
almost tripled to $8.92 billion between 2002 and 2006, according to the
Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry. Cuba's trade deficit widened to
$6.35 billion in 2006 from $1.49 billion in 2002.

Brazilian exports to Cuba increased almost fivefold in the same period,
reaching $343.8 million in 2006, the Brazilian Trade Ministry said, or
about 0.2 percent of Brazil's total exports. Brazil's main exports to
Cuba are electrical equipment, sugar, candy and meat products.

Brazil also plans to help Cuba build roads and a lubricant plant, Lula
said. Lula plans to offer more than $500 million in financing to Cuba,
Valor Economico reported today, without saying where it got the information.

The Brazilian president, who calls himself a personal friend of Cuban
leader Fidel Castro, is scheduled to arrive in Cuba today and leave
tomorrow.

To contact the reporters on this story: Romina Nicaretta in Sao Paulo at
rnicaretta@bloomberg.net ; Andre Soliani in Cuba at at
asoliani@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 14, 2008 09:53 EST

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