HANOVER, April 19 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on \u200cSunday called for closer ties between South America’s \u200clargest economy and the European Union at the opening of the Hanover \u200bindustrial fair.<\/p>\n
Both welcomed the entry into force of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement on May 1.<\/p>\n
“This shows that we are sticking to the multilateral order, that we want a rules-based \u200ceconomic system, and that \u2060we want this cooperation with as few tariffs as possible \u2013 ideally none at all,” Merz \u2060said.<\/p>\n
Lula described Brazil, this year’s partner country at the world’s largest industrial trade fair in Hanover, as a reliable and \u200bimportant partner, \u200bincluding in the supply \u200bof raw materials.<\/p>\n
Although only about \u200c30% of Brazil’s mineral potential has been mapped, the country already has the world’s largest reserves of niobium, the second-largest reserves of graphite and rare earths, and the third-largest reserves of nickel, Lula said.<\/p>\n
“These raw materials must serve \u200cas a driver of economic and \u200bsocial development,” he added, calling for \u200bgreater technology transfer \u200band more processing capacity to be established in \u200cBrazil.<\/p>\n