India, Brazil, South Africa to reopen trilateral talks

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Brazil, India and South Africa will open talks Tuesday to check the pace of cooperation between the three nations who are emerging as spokesmen for the developing world, officials said yesterday.

"The meeting of the foreign ministers is also a prelude to a trilateral summit in South Africa in October," an official from Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh's office told AFP.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee will host the day-long talks which will be attended by his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim and South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Indian spokesman Navtej Sarna said.

The three nations created the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) in September last year when their leaders met in Brasilia and urged richer nations to yield on overheated trade talks.

The countries are demanding an expansion of the UN Security Council to add permanent members from Africa and Latin America and another Asian member.

Brazil, which taps into its huge sugar cane production to produce ethanol for cars, is offering to help fuel-hungry South Africa and India develop the alternative fuel.