Lula took giant steps in his relations with Asia during an official visit yesterday in Kazakhstan where together with his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev, he advocated; for reform of the UN to give more weight to developing countries; for bilateral trade between both countries; for international disarmament initiatives, including nuclear weapons; against destructive weapons proliferation; and for a peaceful solution to conflicts.
This is the first visit by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to the Central Asian country, rich in hydrocarbons, in response to the visit that Nazarbayev made to the South American country in 2007. Lula had just participated in the first summit of the four emerging superpowers that make up BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which took place on Tuesday en Yekaterinburg, Russia.
