Press Release
Visit of EAM to Brazil
28/08/2009
Hon’ble External Affairs Minister will be pay an official visit to Brazil from 30th August to 1st September 2009 for co-chairing the 4th India-Brazil Joint Commission Meeting and for participating in the sixth IBSA Trilateral Commission meeting. The third India-Brazil Joint Commission was held in New Delhi from 12-13 April 2007. The forthcoming visit is EAM’s first tour of Latin America after assuming the office of External Affairs Minister, Government of India.
2. In recent years, high-level contact between both countries has considerably increased. President Lula visited India as Chief Guest for India’s Republic Day in January 2004. He paid a State Visit to India in June 2007 and attended the third IBSA Summit at New Delhi in October 2008. PM visited Brazil in September 2006 and Rashtrapatiji paid a State Visit to Brazil in April 2008. Bilateral ties were upgraded to Strategic Partnership level after the visit of PM to Brazil in September, 2006.
3. In order to strengthen multisectoral engagement, 41 agreements have been signed since 2004 between both countries, 29 at the bilateral level and the rest on IBSA-related matters. Progress on cooperation in various sectors [agriculture, science & technology, health, renewable and non-renewable energy, defence, trade & commerce, standardization, space, power, infrastructure, culture and education] is reviewed under the mechanism of the India-Brazil Joint Commission. In order to give a fillip to priority sectors such as trade and investment, a CEOs Forum has been set up between both sides. An India-Brazil Trade Monitoring Committee has also been instituted for addressing various bottlenecks in trade-related matters. Bilateral trade between both countries in 2008 was estimated to be to the tune of US$ 4.6 billion. Leading Indian companies in the ICT, Autoparts, Pharmaceuticals, Oil & Hydrocarbons have set up active business operations in Brazil.
4. India and Brazil traditionally cooperate closely with each other in multilateral organizations. They are close partners under the G-4 initiative under which both Brazil and India along with Japan and Germany seek to obtain permanent seats on an expanded UN Security Council. They consult with each other on important multilateral matters such as the WTO Doha Round, Climate Change, International Terrorism and other such issues of mutual interest.
5. During his visit, EAM will be holding talks with his counterpart and is also expected to meet other dignitaries and senior representatives in the Brazilian Government. He will also be meeting his South African counterpart on the margins of the IBSA Ministerial meeting. The IBSA Trilateral, [Ministerial] Commission was instituted in 2003 by the Brasilia Declaration. It will deliberate on progress of cooperation made under the IBSA dialogue Forum and review the preparations for the Fourth IBSA Summit to be held in Brasilia.
New Delhi,
August 28, 2009