Stockholm - European Union and Brazilian leaders are to meet in November to launch a diplomatic push on fighting climate change ahead of crunch UN talks in Copenhagen, the leaders of the two sides said Tuesday after talks in Stockholm. It is the strongest link-up to date between powers in the developed and developing worlds, and marks a joint bid to seize the initiative in a debate which many observers see as dominated by the United States, India and China.
"We want to increase the pressure on this climate debate: the EU and Brazil will meet in November," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the bloc's rotating presidency.
The meeting will "see what we can do together to bring other countries on board" a deal in Copenhagen, the head of the EU's executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, said.
"The EU and Brazil are standing together in the way they tackle the main challenges, and we face these challenges in the same way," he said.
The third annual EU-Brazil summit was dominated by talks on climate change ahead of the Copenhagen meeting in December.
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva said that countries should take responsibility for the amount of greenhouse-gas they emit, but should be given credit for preserving forests which soak up those gases, such as the Amazon rain forests.
And he said that he was ready to travel to Copenhagen on December 16-17 in person in a bid to reach a deal.
"The idea is that the largest possible number of world leaders should attend ... so we can have an in-depth discussion," he said.
