Bissau, Guinea Bissau, 15 March – Brazil wants to encourage production of biofuels in West African countries via studies and raising production loans, Brazilian ambassador Jorge Geraldo Kadri said Friday in Bissau.

The Brazilian ambassador to Guinea Bissau was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on Brazilian public policy on biofuels, which took place in Bissau following similar initiatives in four West African countries (Senegal, Benin, Mali and Burkina Faso).

In those countries, technicians from various ministerial departments in Brazil presented Brazilian strategies in the biofuel sector and demonstrated the comparative advantages of biofuel production.

To provide further assistance, Brazil plans to send specialists to Guinea Bissau “before the end of the year” with the aim of carrying out a full survey of the country’s biofuel production potential.

The mission will have the aim of surveying the areas that are best to grow plants that can be used to produce biofuels and the best plants for Guinean soil.

The Brazilian ambassador noted that following that work the government would move on to seeking funding for the businesspeople that want to invest in biofuel production.

Kadri announced that the African Development Bank (ADB) and Brazil’s Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social (BNDS) had said they were available to support the idea.

The Brazilian diplomat said he was of the opinion that Guinea Bissau had enormous potential for biofuel production, based on the land not currently sued to produce food as well as from cashew pulp, the nut of which is Guinea Bissau’s main export product. (macauhub)