Brazil and India Sign Technology, Energy and Security Agreements

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – India and Brazil on Saturday signed 15 agreements to cement cooperation in areas ranging from energy and trade and investment to cyber security and information technology after talks between visiting Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two countries also unveiled an action plan to further expand strategic ties between the two countries.

Bolsonaro, who is the chief guest at India’s 71st Republic Day celebrations on Sunday, arrived in New Delhi on Friday afternoon. This is his first visit to India.

After talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bolsonaro, the two countries signed an investment cooperation and facilitation treaty that provides a framework to increase trade and investment in high growth areas. The two leaders acknowledged the great synergies between India and Brazil which were two large economies with a combined GDP of around US$4.5 (R$18) trillion and having a total population of 1.5 billion.

“Several agreements signed in ​​infrastructure, justice, science and technology, agriculture, oil exploration, mining, health, culture and tourism,” Bolsonaro tweeted, adding: “The world’s confidence in Brazil is back!”

For his part, Modi tweeted: “India and Brazil are focusing on expanding cooperation in the defense sector,” adding that the two countries share “immense synergies” on several key issues such as the environment and fighting terrorism.

Separately, Brazil’s foreign minister Ernesto Araujo tweeted that the 15 accords signed by the two countries represent a move “against the structures of globalist thought”.

“Brazil is rising to be a great among the greats,” he tweeted.

India’s ties with Brazil, the largest country in South America, have been on an upswing in the last few years. The country has a population of 210 million with a US$1.8 trillion economy.

Major Indian exports to Brazil include agro-chemicals, synthetic yarns, auto components and parts, pharmaceutical and petroleum products. Brazilian exports to India include crude oil, gold, vegetable oil, sugar and bulk mineral and ores.

Indian investments in Brazil were around US$6 billion and Brazilian investments in India are estimated at US$1 billion in 2018.

Brazilian investments in India are mainly in automobiles, IT, mining, energy and biofuel. India has invested in Brazil’s IT, pharmaceutical, energy, agri-business, mining and engineering.

According to an Indian foreign ministry statement, the action plan unveiled by the two countries included the setting up of consultation forums and frameworks like foreign office consultations, strategic, economic and financial dialogues, a trade monitoring mechanism and joint working groups in the area of oil and gas, bio-energy, geology and mineral resources, science and technology, environment and global cyber issues.