Premier Beattie has only recently returned from a trade mission to the land of sand, soccer and Samba.

In a statement the Premier said, “One of the biggest achievements of the mission was securing the agreement of [Brazilian] President [Luis Inacio] da Silva to co-operate on the possibility of developing an ethanol export industry.”

“It is crucial that we should start work on this co-operation as quickly as possible. It’s a win-win result for Queensland and for Brazil. Brazil has much expertise in manufacturing not just ethanol but also ethanol plants. The Brazilian Government has agreed to help organise an ethanol roadshow in Queensland later this year to inform people about ethanol issues,” added Beattie.

Aside from talks on the trade of coal and sugar, Beattie said da Silva was keen on increased biotechnology trade between Brazil and Queensland.

“The president said he was highly interested in working with us on biotechnology if we could establish agreements on joint programs and said that our meeting was a wonderful opportunity to proceed further in taking advantage of our joint biodiversity,” said Beattie.

"We also talked about opportunities for joint research in biotechnology based on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland rainforest and the Amazon jungle and I want to take advantage of this as well,” added the Premier.

Premier Beattie also took a dig at the Federal Government, and Federal Agricultural Minister Warren Truss in particular, when he called for more support from Canberra to back an ethanol initiative.

“The Federal Government must not waste another minute before introducing reforms to support the development of an ethanol export industry. Changing international circumstances [means] the sugar industry [needs] to switch to ethanol production without delay,” said Beattie.

“The clock is ticking on a world-wide race to develop and market biofuels, and the Australian sugar industry needs to enter the race without delay. If Australian sugar does not move quickly the sands may shift beneath our feet, and the competition will out-run us,” added Beattie.

Beattie, citing Russia’s intention to sign the Kyoto Protocol, has declared the search for alternative fuel sources in order to restrict greenhouse emissions means there will be a need for “fossil fuel alternatives” and a worldwide competition to produce viable biofuels to feed the demand.

“But business needs certainty in order to further invest in an embryonic industry like ethanol production from sugar and ethanol needs an indefinite extension of the fuel excise exemption, which only the Federal Government can give. It also needs legislation requiring oil companies to include ethanol in fuel,” said Beattie.

“Only the Federal Government can apply the mandate because there are constitutional, legal and practical barriers to Queensland mandating ethanol, so Federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss must stop saying the Queensland Government should go it alone on the introduction of ethanol-blended fuel.

“These Federal reforms would top off Queensland’s actions, including new legislation, stamp duty exemptions and $33 million in funding plus promised Federal measures, and give industry the certainty it needs to move into large-scale ethanol production. What we need now is more action from the Federal government,” added the Premier.