In March of 2007, U.S. President George Bush and Brazilian President Lula da Silva announced they would cooperate on biofuels such as ethanol (see Cleantech.com's Bush on Biofuel in Brazil.)

A year later, government officials from both countries on a panel this week at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC), said the agreement has led to some sharing of technology from the U.S. to Brazil and joint cooperation in promoting biofuels to Latin nations.

However the steps have been small when compared to what could be—including the free flow of technology in both directions and ethanol imports from Brazil, officials said.

Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C., said the progress since the announcement "has not been impressive."

Sotero, who headed the panel on Brazilian and U.S. sharing on ethanol, said that the countries have been the most successful in getting nations around the world to agree on technical standards for ethanol fuel.

Marcus Jank, the President of UNICA, the Brazilian sugar cane association, echoed his countryman's dissatisfaction with the progress, citing that while Brazilian researchers have visited the U.S. six times, the first American governmental visit to study Brazil's industry won't occur until later this spring, which he called "an unacceptable delay."

The nations could be sharing technology on bioplastics, biomass, raising venture capital, joint ventures and technologies for increasing yields of ethanol per acre if they had a more strategic relationship, Jank said. "This shouldn't be an academic exercise."

Together the U.S. and Brazil produce 75 percent of the world's ethanol, and jointly they could spread their biofuel technology to the rest of the globe, according to Jank.

He said that individual states, including Florida and Alabama, have shown much more interest than the federal government in learning from Brazil, which gets 40 percent of its automotive energy from ethanol.

Andre Aranha Correa Do Logo, the Director of the energy department of Brazil's department of foreign affairs, was more optimistic, saying that while more could have been accomplished during the first year of the "arranged marriage," government representatives are "starting to discover that love is possible."

Gregory Manuel, a special advisor to the Secretary at the U.S. State Department and who helped bring the countries together in the agreement, was more upbeat about the results than his Brazilian counterparts.

He said that the change in international policies on both sides were complex, and he was proud of the accomplishments to date. For example, the U.S. and Brazil are working together to help the nations of Columbia, Haiti, the Dominican Republican and El Salvador to process sugar cane into ethanol and have committed funds for 8 of 30 proposed projects in the Latin countries, he said.

Jason Steinbaum, the staff director of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, said that from a foreign relations standpoint, the past year has been very successful, noting that Bush and Lula had met and discussed ethanol twice.

During the 90 minute meeting, however, none of the politicians addressed the U.S. imposed tariff on ethanol that has effectively shut out imports from Brazil.

When asked about the possibility of the tariff being lifted within the next year, Steinbaum said that the U.S. Congress was not likely to change its position because Midwestern states want to protect their corn-based ethanol revenue.

Brazil's Jank said that if trade conditions changed with the U.S., Brazil could export ethanol that could quickly help to slow the inflation caused by higher corn prices that has driven up the cost of meat, soy and animal feed.

A more strategic partnership between the two countries could lead 100 nations in temperate climates that can produce sugar cane to become more energy independent rather than being controlled by 20 nations that own the majority of the world's oil, he said.

The State Department's Manuel disagreed, stating that Brazil would not have the ethanol capacity for several years to be able to deliver a meaningful volume of the fuel to the U.S.

While keeping the tariff in place for the next few years is appropriate, Manuel said that if the U.S. wants to derive 15 percent of its energy from biofuels in the future, the tariff would have to be ended.

John Gartner is Editor of Matter Network. This story is by special arrangement with Matter. Read Matter's original story here.