India-Brazil Trade Relations Flourishing, Says Brazilian Ambassador

August 31, 2012

New Delhi: Brazil’s trade relations with India have witnessed a ten-fold increase in the last decade and expected to reach US$ 15 billion by 2015. Speaking at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi on India-Brazil relations, Brazil’s Ambassador to India, Mr. Carlos Duarte highlighted the growing cooperation between the two developing powers in various fields such as agriculture, science and technology, energy, education, defence, environment among many others.

At the diplomatic and political levels, India-Brazil interaction and cooperation is increasing. Last year alone, the heads of state from both countries met four times on the sidelines of various multilateral forums. Former President of India, Pratibha Patil visited Brazil in 2011 while Brazilian President, Dilma Vana Rousseff’s last visit to India was in March this year.

Brazil and India are leading players not only globally but also regionally. The two countries are cooperating at multilateral forums such as BRICS which is the forum of emerging powers. Amb. Duarte also added that the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) grouping continues to play a crucial role in Brazil’s relationship with India. IBSA is the ideal platform for finding solutions to the problems of the developing world and also enables the countries to learn from each other’s growth. Given the similarities and commonalities that both the nations share, there has been increased convergence and cooperation at various levels in the recent past between the two nations.