US alone can’t solve all global problems: Obama

The United States cannot alone resolve all major global problems and it needs co-operation of other major countries to successfully address the issues of poverty, climate change and terrorism, US President Barack Obama said today.

“If we want to be successful on climate change, on countering terrorism, on making sure that we are reducing extreme poverty around the world, all the major countries have to be involved in that process. And Brazil we consider to be an absolutely indispensable partner in these efforts,” Obama told reporters at a joint White House news conference with the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

“On issues like global health, we’re not going to succeed unless we’re working with Brazil and other major countries so that we can identify where there might be the outbreak of a disease, how we prevent it from turning into a pandemic,” he said in response to a question.

Obama said the US views Brazil not as a regional power, but as a global power.

“If you think about the preeminent economic forum for coordinating between major economies, the G-20, Brazil is a major voice in that,” he said.

The negotiations that are going to be taking place in Paris around climate change can only succeed with Brazil as a key leader.

“The announcements made today about their goals on renewable energy is indicative of Brazil’s leadership,” he noted.

“Following progress during my trips to China and India, this shows that the world’s major economies can begin to transcend some of the old divides and work together to confront the common challenge that we face, something that we have to work on for future generations, and I’m confident that this will lead to a strong outcome in Paris,” Obama said.

Reiterating that Brazil is a major global player, Obama said: “I told President Dilma last night that, you know, the US, as powerful as we are and as interested as we are in solving a whole range of international issues, recognises we can’t do it alone.