Biofuels alliance eyes more members

India-backed Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) is looking for more countries to join it from South-east Asia and Africa after the Philippines and Tanzania became the latest entrants.

- Rituraj Baruah

The move is strategically significant as it is expected to give India an upper hand over China which has interests in both South East Asian and Africa and has been opposed to joining the alliance.

The alliance launched on 9 September on the sidelines of the G20 Leadership Summit was initially conceptualized with a view to getting all G20 members on board. However, big hitters China, Russia and Saudi Arabia have so far stayed out.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are key crude oil producers and biofuels are an alternative to crude. Several European countries have also refrained from joining-concerns have mounted in the past several years over deforestation caused by key source plants such as palm and soy.