INDIA, BRAZIL SIGN 15 AGREEMENTS, UNVEIL ACTION PLAN
NEWDELHI: India and Brazil on Saturday signed 15 agreements and unveiled an action plan to boost cooperation in areas ranging from biofuels to cybersecurity and defence as President Jair Bolsonaro kicked off a visit during which he will be chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.
The two Brics economies, currently grappling with problems, set a target of boosting trade to $15 billion by 2022 and decided to focus on agriculture as a key area for cooperation. They also agreed to bilaterally address the issue of India’s support to sugarcane growers, over which Brazil has filed a WTO dispute.
The choice of Bolsonaro as chief guest for the Republic Day parade – an honour accorded in the past to leaders such as former US president Barack Obama and late South African president Nelson Mandela – has been questioned because of his controversial views.
The external affairs ministry has defended the choice by saying India shares a strategic relationship with Brazil and Bolsonaro is the “elected leader in a democratic country”.
Bolsonaro was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan before his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweeted their discussions covered energy, technology, healthcare and defence. Modi added the two sides are also working together at multilateral forums and “see immense synergies on various issues including the need to uproot…terrorism”.
In a statement after his talks with Bolsonaro, Modi noted that they were meeting for the third time in eight months and said it was a “matter of great pride” that the Brazilian president was the chief guest for the Republic Day. “Strategic partnership between India and Brazil is based on our common ideology and values,” he said, adding the action will deepen people-to-people and business ties.
Of the 15 agreements signed by the two sides, the key ones focus on cooperation in bio-energy, oil and natural gas, investment facilitation, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, and cooperation in health, cybersecurity and social security to facilitate the movement of professionals.
The action plan adopted by the two sides will cover six major areas – political and strategic coordination; trade, investments, agriculture, civil aviation and energy; science, technology, space, environment, technical cooperation and health; defence and security; culture and education; and consular issues, social security and legal cooperation.
A person familiar with developments, who declined to be identified, said Modi raised the WTO dispute filed by Brazil over India’s support to sugarcane growers during the talks with Bolsonaro and both sides agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations as “a gesture of our close friendship and given the importance India attaches to the matter”.