Nusa Dua (Indonesia): The world's three largest rainforest nations Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia on Monday formally launched a partnership to cooperate on forest preservation.

Reuters reported in August that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, elected as Brazil's president at the end of October, would seek a partnership with the other two nations to pressure the rich world to finance forest conservation.

Representatives of the three countries, which represent 52% of the world's tropical rainforest, signed the joint statement at the talks in Indonesia ahead of the G20, or Group of 20 industrialised nations, which begins on Tuesday.

The G20 talks coincide with the second and final week of the COP27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt, where Lula's environmental adviser Izabella Teixeira said Brazil would seek to get the involvement of other countries in the Amazon basin, which spans nine nations.

"Forests matters, nature matters. And I do believe that without Amazon protection, we cannot have climate security," said Teixeira, who was environment minister under Lula during his previous term as president that ended in 2010. "I believe that Brazil should promote that other countries should come together."

(Reuters)

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