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    Brazilian President’s visit expand India’s forays into Latin America

    Synopsis

    The visit that will enable to boost India’s forays into Latin America was strengthened with the conclusion of 15 agreements and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) including on investment cooperation and facilitation treaty, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, bioenergy and cyber security.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: India and Latin American powerhouse Brazil on Saturday announced an Action Plan to widen the strategic partnership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro agreeing to launch wide ranging cooperation across energy, security, agriculture and investment sectors.

    The visit that will enable to boost India’s forays into Latin America was strengthened with the conclusion of 15 agreements and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) including on investment cooperation and facilitation treaty, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, bioenergy and cyber security. This is third occasion that a Brazilian President will be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations.

    Under the Action Plan, existing mechanisms, as well as the goals of the Action Plan, have been grouped in six major thematic areas: political and strategic coordination; trade and commerce, investments, agriculture, civil aviation and energy mechanisms; science, technology and innovation; space cooperation; environment and technical cooperation; health mechanisms; defence and security; culture and education; consular issues, social security and legal cooperation mechanism.

    The India-Brazil Joint Commission for political, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation will be the main forum for monitoring the implementation of the Action Plan and will convene every two years, according to the Action Plan.

    “India and Brazil's strategic partnership is dependent on our similar mindset and values. In spite of the distance, we are together on several global forums. Today, we have agreed to take forward our partnership on several issues,” Modi said addressing a joint press conference following the Summit.

    Pointing out that legal framework has been created to make investment better in both countries, Modi said India and Brazil, two big growing democracies, think similarly on several global issues. “From terrorism to the environment, India and Brazil have a similar view on all such issues,” he emphasised.

    Lauding the Brazilian President for accepting to be the Chief Guest, Modi said at the “Republic Day parade at Rajpath, you will witness the diversity of India. Brazil is also a country that celebrates many festivals with fervour.”

    The PM described Brazil as a valuable partner in India's economic transformation and “for needs in the food and energy sector.” He also said they are focusing on new ways to promote defence industrial co-operation and are looking for a broader partnership in security. Brazil will have a large delegation at the DefExpo in Lucknow next month.

    Bilateral relations were raised to a Strategic Partnership in 2006 and 2023 will mark 75 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations. “We have just signed 15 agreements. We have indeed further consolidated our working bilateral relations,” Bolsonaro said in his remarks.

    The pacts concluded include cooperation in oil and natural gas; cultural exchange programme; women and child development; investment protection; field of health and medicine; early childhood; traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy; cultural exchange programme between 2020-24; social security; scientific and technological cooperation; geology and mineral resources; animal husbandry and dairying.

    On the issue of support given by India to sugarcane growers a matter on which Brazil has filed a WTO dispute, it was agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations, MEA spokesperson said. The PM took up the matter with the Brazilian President during the talks. “As a gesture of our close friendship and given the importance India attaches to the matter, both sides agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations,” a source quipped.

    The leaders agreed that there exist great synergies between India and Brazil, world’s two developing economies. Buoyed by a combined population of 1.5 billion people, both countries could march in step towards development of both nations. There was agreement to cooperate in many areas that are mutually beneficial. Some of these areas are in Agriculture, Bio-fuels, Animal Husbandry, Health and S&T. The two sides also agreed to set a target of US$ 15 billion in bilateral trade by 2022 given the complementarities between the two economies.

    The two leaders recognized Agriculture to be a key focus area for bilateral cooperation, important part of both economies. On the issue of support given by India to sugarcane growers, the matter on which Brazil has filed a WTO dispute, it was agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations.

    In the field of Bio-fuels, an MoU on Cooperation in Bioenergy was signed between two countries. Both leaders agreed that the two countries could collaborate in the field of ethanol production. Given that Brazil is a leader in this field, they would share state of art technology with India in this sector. Prime Minister stated that this would serve India’s developmental goals. President Bolsonaro indicated Brazil’s willingness to work with India in research in Bio-Energy.

    Both leaders agreed to cooperate in the field of animal husbandry. Recognizing the common genetic heritage in cattle, India and Brazil agreed to collaborate in Assisted Reproductive Technology that will help increase the dairy production in India substantially. In this context, both sides welcomed the decision to set up a Centre of Excellence in Cattle Genomics in India with Brazilian assistance.

    The Prime Minister identified Biotechnology, Health, Low Carbon Technology and Research in Earth Sciences as specific areas of cooperation under S&T. Both leaders welcomed the signature of the Programme of Cooperation in S&T for 2020-2023.


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