'Brazil better equipped to face market crisis'

Brasilia, Nov 11 (Prensa Latina) Brazil has said it is better equipped than the rich economies to face the global market meltdown and invited foreign investment as a proof of its economic stability.

'We are in better conditions to face the crisis than rich countries,' President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Monday said during his Coffee with the President programme on radio.

The Brazilian president is scheduled Wednesday to visit Italy where he will meet business leaders, government officials, and the opposition, and to meet the Pope Thursday to conclude an agreement with the Vatican.

Lula said his Italy visit aims at seeking Italian investment in infrastructure projects being currently implemented in Brazil, and from the Vatican, he will urge rich countries to help the poorest, such as Haiti.

The president said all the South American Common Market or MERCOSUR countries are going through a very important development phase, and for the first time in many years, there is good economic growth in Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina, the deepening worldwide financial crisis notwithstanding.

Lula ascribed the South American growth to the region's scope and potential of internal growth and called for strengthening the grouping.