Merkel and Rousseff lunch during climate change meetings

Aug 27, 2015 Brazil and Germany recently threw their weight behind the push for a global climate agreement while stressing the importance of defending the Amazon jungle from deforestation.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her German counterpart Angela Merkel issued the joint declaration in Brasilia, with the German chancellor describing Brazil as key to controlling greenhouse gases.

During the 24-hour visit by the German Chancellor, both leaders focused mainly on environmental cooperation and strategies to boost trade and investment between the largest economies in Europe and Latin America.

President Rousseff confirmed to the press that they had agreed on common actions to deal with one of the most important challenges of the 21st Century, adding that Brazil is committed to reducing deforestation in the Amazon to zero by 2030.

In a bid to put money where their mouth is, the German government recently announced a 550 million euros loan to finance environmental programs in Brazil.

A bulk of the loan will be focused on the development of renewable energy sources and to preserve tropical forests while the rest will aid the establishment of a rural land registry to monitor deforestation.

Rousseff, whose government is reeling from the worst economic downturn in three decades and a massive corruption scandal, briefed the German Chancellor on her country’s ambitious infrastructure plans and invited German companies to bid for concessions in building roads, ports, railroads and airports.

With Germany being Brazil’s fourth-largest trade partner, Merkel and Rousseff went on to say that they have put plans in motion to speed up negotiations on a European Union trade deal with Mercosur; a South American bloc that consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.