Brazilian President holds talks with PM over trade

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva began talks with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today to strengthen business and diplomatic ties between the two countries.

New Delhi, June 4 : Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva began talks with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today to strengthen business and diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The two countries inked seven major agreements, including one on the co-production of audio-visuals and another on a CEOs Forum agreement.

Academic Exchange programmes and Implementation of arrangements regarding cooperation in augmentation of Brazilian Earth Station for receiving and processing data from Indian Remote Sensing Satellites were among major agreements signed between the two sides.

Trade between India and Brazil has touched 2.4 billion dollars in 2006. Both the countries have also increased investments in each other's fast-growing economies.

Indian firms have focused on investments and joint ventures in Brazil's pharmaceutical, IT and energy sectors while Brazilian companies have targeted India's infrastructure, food processing and energy sectors.

The two countries aim to quadruple trade to ten billion dollars by 2010.

Earlier in the day, Lula da Silva had said that India and Brazil should work together for the development of both countries.

"India and Brazil are two major democracies. We both are on a path of major expansion of the economies. We need to work towards development of both countries to strengthen our trade relations and our country relations as well," said Lula.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called on Lula and discussed a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition LK Advani will also call on the visiting dignitary.

Lula, who had visited India in January, 2004 and as the Chief Guest for the Republic Day celebrations, is being accompanied by a large delegation comprising ministers, officials and businessmen.

Lula's state visit assumes significance as after Manmohan Singh's visit to Brazil in September 2006, bilateral relations have been upgraded to a 'strategic partnership'.

The third meeting of the Indo-Brazilian Joint Commission, held in New Delhi and co-chaired by Pranab Mukherjee and his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim, has covered cooperation in a number of areas such as agriculture, science and technology, trade and investment, energy, education, defence, space, nuclear energy, health, culture and sports.

It has been agreed that a Festival of Brazil will be organised in India in January-March, 2008 and a Festival of India will be held in Brazil in July-September, 2008.

On trade front, the two countries have seen significant increase in recent years. In 2006, India's exports to Brazil were 1470 million dollars and imports 937 million dollars. A number of Indian companies have made investment and joint ventures in Brazil in areas such as pharmaceuticals, IT and energy.

The Brazilian companies have also started targeting India for investment and business in areas such as infrastructure, food processing and energy.

India and Brazil work closely in multilateral fora, including UN, WTO and G-20. The two sides are also working together in the G-4 Group seeking permanent membership of UN Security Council.

ANI