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Home / Bioethanol / News Agriculture may become locomotive in overcoming financial crisisMOSCOW, November 21 (Itar-Tass) Agriculture may become the locomotive in pulling out of the world financial crisis, said Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev who is taking part in an international conference on biofuel in San Paolo, Brazil. All participants in the conference from over 30 countries of the world share this opinion. "Speaking about the world financial crisis, the delegates underlined that agriculture - depending on government's actions - has a real chance to become the locomotive in pulling out of this situation," the press service of the Russian Agriculture Ministry quoted Gordeyev as saying. The minister explained that "steady demand for food is one of the major advantages of agriculture compared with other branches of t he economy." The participants in the conferences believe that the production of biofuel should be based on 2nd generation technologies. The waste from cattle breeding, food industry and timber processing should be used as raw materials. "This, in turn, will allow for resolving a whole range of tasks - economic, environmental, social and agricultural," Gordeyev emphasized. In the course of the discussions, "two opposite points of view appeared regarding the degree of influence of the production of bioethanol and biodiesel on prices on the food market." "For example, U.S. representatives are convinced that the development of this production does not influence the price situation, while their opponents from African states hold the opposite," the Russian agriculture minister said.
On the whole, the participants in the conference noted that the countries that own large land and water resources (Russia, Brazil, the United States) should use their potential for humanity's needs, including with the view of worldwide provision of food. The Brazilian state-owned oil firm, Petrobras, received today the visit of the Russian President, Dimitri Medvedev. During the meeting - held at the company's headquarters, in Rio de Janeiro -, the Petrobras president, José Sergio Gabrielli, introduced the details about the company's actions in and outside Brazil.
Medvedev's visit targets to identify cooperation opportunities between the Brazilian giant and Russian companies in areas such as oil and gas exploration and production; research and development; services; and biofuels.
Date: 23.11.2008 Leave your comment
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