Agence France-Presse,
Saint-Georges, French Guiana: French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his Brazilian counterpart here Tuesday that France was willing to sell conventional submarines and fighter jets to Brazil.
Sarkozy told reporters after meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in French Guiana, a French overseas territory bordering Brazil, that the project was part of a “global partnership” with Brazil not limited to military sales.
The French leader said France was ready to transfer technology to Brazil “to be able to sell submarines and fighter jets” to the South American giant.
“I told President Lula that we were ready to have one of our Scorpene submarines built in Brazil,” he said in a joint news conference. The Scorpene is a non-nuclear submarine.
“We are ready to organize technology transfers so that helicopters and fighter jets, notably the Rafale, can be built in Brazil,” he said.
Addressing an issue dear to Sarkozy, Lula reiterated his readiness to help in any humanitarian effort to win the release of some 40 hostages, including Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, held by Colombian Marxist rebels.
“Anything we can do has to be done with the approval of the Colombian government, otherwise it become more difficult,” Lula said.
The two leaders met in Saint-Georges, by the Oyapock river that marks the border between French Guiana and northern Brazil, for a summit aimed at renewing bilateral ties.
