Brazilian President Defends Foreign Policy Despite "Jealousy" http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/april/21/latinamerica10042102.htm

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday his administration's foreign policy enhanced Brazil's importance in the international arena, but also stirred up jealousy."When a country gets important, it stirs up jealousy. Those who were not capable of doing what you did get jealous," Lula said at a graduation ceremony of Brazil's newest diplomats.

Lula said Brazil had been severely criticized for focusing on strengthening its ties with South American, Asian and African countries. But he believes boosting South-South trade is important.The president also said it is necessary to stop thinking that countries in the North are more important than those in the Southern hemisphere."The North is not so big and the South is not as little as people think it is," he said.

Lula recalled that Brazil recently managed to win a long-standing trade dispute over U.S. subsidies to cotton growers. The World Trade Organization authorized Brazil to impose sanctions of 830 million U.S. dollars on the United States.At the ceremony, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim also stated Brazil's position on the Iranian nuclear issue.Amorim said Brazil maintains its stance against the sanctions the United States wants to impose on Iran, preferring a negotiated solution to the matter.