Brussels, 27/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva hopes to seize the occasion provided by the EU/Brazil summit in Lisbon on 4 July to rekindle talks on a partnership and free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela). Talks have been in deadlock since the stalled Lisbon meeting in October 2004. According to the EU ambassador to Brazil, Joao Pacheco, President Lula will be in Lisbon to launch a strategic partnership between the EU and Brazil (see EUROPE 9436) in order to strengthen the joint efforts made to meet major global challenges such as climate change, poverty, human rights and reform of the UN. He has also said, however, that he will take this opportunity to give fresh impetus to bilateral EU/Mercosur talks for a free trade agreement that has been bogged down since 2004. “It might be less difficult for Europe and Mercosur to overcome their differences than it will be for the 150 members of the WTO”, added Mr Pacheco, cited by Associated Press. On the sidelines of the EU/Brazil summit that he will be presiding alongside the Portuguese prime minister and the future EU Council president, José Socrates, Lula will hold a dinner with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and the head of the Italian government, Romano Prodi. “The aim of the EU/Brazil summit is more political than economic but the event may give fresh political impetus to EU/Mercosur trade talks”, a diplomatic source at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated. The last technical meeting (at expert level) in the context of talks for an EU/Mercosur free trade agreement took place in January in Brussels (for the latest update on EU/Mercosur talks, see EUROPE 9202 and 9263). (eh)