Lula to push financial system reform at Davos forum

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would highlight the urgency of overhauling the global financial system at the upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, local media reported Tuesday.

Lula, who is to address the annual meeting on Friday, is also expected to call on world leaders to reform international organizations, including the UN, to make them more effective, representative and legitimate.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian president would demand the resumption of the nine-year-old Doha Round of trade talks, which aims to reduce trade barriers and increasing free trade for developing countries, said Marcelo Baumbach, Lula’s spokesman.

Lula, who will be named Politician of the Year in Davos, would also talk about his government’s social programs and economic policies, which had made Brazil “one of the last countries to feel the effects of the global economic crisis and one of the first to leave (it).”

The 40th annual WEF starts Wednesday in the Swiss skiing resort of Davos and will attract more than 2,500 leaders from more than 90 countries and regions, representing business, government, civil society, academia and the media.