Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target to scale up bilateral trade with Brazil from the existing 12.2 billion to 20 billion dollars in the next five years. Speaking at a Joint Press Conference with the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during the state visit to Brazil today in Brasilia, the Prime Minister said that both the countries will work closely to expand the Mercosur preferential trade agreement to cover more products and improve market access for Indian exporters. Mercosur is a regional trade block comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In his press statement, Mr Modi announced plans to enable Unified Payments Interface adoption in Brazil on the lines of India’s digital payments infrastructure. He identified key sectors for enhanced bilateral cooperation including agriculture, food processing, digital public infrastructure and space technology. Agri tech and value added food exports were other areas that the Prime Minister spoke to enhance trade.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with Brazil’s highest civilian award, the Grand Collar of the National Order of the Southern Cross. Brazilian President Lula da Silva presented the award in recognition of PM Modi’s notable contributions to strengthen bilateral relations and enhancing India Brazil cooperation across key global platforms. After the conclusion of the bilateral talks between India and Brazil, the Secretary East in the Ministry of External Affairs Periasamy Kumaran briefed media persons on the highlights of the talks. He informed that the Brazilian President welcomed the idea of providing greater access to cost effective Indian drugs into Brazil. The talks were also held on Visa liberalisation for businessmen and tourists from India. He said that the Brazilian President welcomed the idea of inviting Indian pharma manufacturing companies to set up base in Brazil. Another sector that came up for discussion was access to the critical mineral assets of Brazil. Ideas were floated to allow Indian investments in Brazil to exploit the minerals or form a Joint Venture. Mr Lula informed that a policy on rare earth minerals will provide incentive to Indian businessmen. Secretary Kumaran also informed that three MoUs were signed during the bilateral. They are exchanging intelligence on terrorism and transnational crime, on biofuel, including ethanol blended fuel and on Renewable energy. The Secretary added that three more MoUs will also be signed later on agriculture research, exchange of classified information and Intellectual Property regime.
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