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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, connected a four-day sojourn to New Delhi with the largest-ever Brazilian delegation, has said that ties betwixt Brazil and India are poised for a decisive expansion. In an exclusive interrogation with The Hindu, President Lula emphasised that “as 2 of the world’s largest democracies and dynamic economies, India and Brazil cannot stay distant”.
On trade, Mr. Lula acknowledged that bilateral commerce, though astatine a grounds precocious successful 2025, remains acold beneath imaginable astatine astir $15 billion. The sojourn aims to importantly grow commercialized flows, with agreements expected successful captious minerals — the archetypal of their benignant for Brazil — and tiny and mean enterprises, a cardinal employment generator. Mr. Lula besides highlighted the Brazil-India Business Forum successful New Delhi, which volition bring unneurotic 600 backstage assemblage representatives, arguing that concern partnerships volition person governmental goodwill into “shared prosperity.”
India, the Brazilian person told The Hindu, is cardinal to Brazil’s semipermanent economical diversification strategy. “The reply to commercialized wars is much planetary trade,” Mr. Lula said, calling for expanded Mercosur-India ties.
Responding to a question connected artificial intelligence, Mr. Lula warned against “digital colonialism”. AI, helium said, indispensable not go the sphere of a fewer nations oregon billionaires. Brazil and India should champion an “emancipatory” AI that reflects the Global South, promotes inclusion and is governed multilaterally.
Looking up to India’s BRICS presidency successful 2026, Mr. Lula expressed assurance that New Delhi would beforehand reforms successful planetary governance. He described multilateralism arsenic facing unprecedented strain, with the UN Security Council successful urgent request of reform. Brazil and India, helium argued, merit imperishable seats, alongside African nations, to bespeak 21st-century realities.
At a clip of geopolitical flux, Brazil and India are earthy partners and they tin construe their long-recognised imaginable into factual strategical alignment, Mr. Lula said successful the interview.
During your sojourn to New Delhi, what factual measures and agreements are expected to deepen and diversify commercialized betwixt India and Brazil?
Bilateral commercialized betwixt Brazil and India reached its highest level successful 2025, but it remains acold beneath its existent potential. India has 1.4 cardinal radical and Brazil has 215 million. It makes nary consciousness for our commercialized to beryllium lone $15 billion. That is wherefore importantly expanding our commercialized flows is 1 of the main objectives of this visit. We volition motion respective agreements to execute this goal. We volition motion agreements connected captious minerals — the archetypal of its benignant to beryllium signed by Brazil — and connected tiny and medium-sized enterprises, a assemblage that generates millions of jobs. During my visit, I volition besides instrumentality portion successful the Brazil-India Business Forum, with 600 representatives from the backstage sectors of some countries. Because it is the backstage sector, done partnerships and associated projects, that volition alteration the fantabulous narration we person with India into shared prosperity for our societies.
Brazil and India cannot stay distant. Two of the world’s largest democracies, with extraordinarily divers cultures and dynamic economies, person an work to physique a overmuch person relationship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I are moving towards that goal.
You are travelling with the largest Brazilian concern delegation ever brought to India, on with respective ministers. What is the value of India for Brazil’s semipermanent economical strategy, particularly erstwhile emerging economies are seeking caller markets successful an epoch of tariffs and commercialized wars?
I often accidental that the reply to the situation of multilateralism is much multilateralism. And the reply to commercialized wars is much planetary trade. Diversifying commercialized partnerships with some emerging and accepted economies is simply a cardinal portion of Brazil’s strategy. In this, we person a beardown convergence with India. This convergence present needs to construe into factual results.
We successful Mercosur person signed a concern statement with the European Union. Less than 2 weeks later, India did the same. We present request to marque the enlargement of the Mercosur–India commercialized statement a reality. We person complementary interests successful areas specified arsenic biofuels, artificial intelligence, subject and technology, defence, the abstraction industry, and health. We some basal for fair, multilateral, open, and rules-based trade, anchored successful the World Trade Organization (WTO). The futures of Brazil and India are intimately linked.
You participated successful the AI Impact Summit successful Delhi. How tin Brazil and India pb broader practice among Global South countries successful the tract of AI, ensuring equitable entree to technology, associated development, and rules that service their interests?
We indispensable debar a caller signifier of colonialism: integer colonialism. The improvement of artificial quality is irreversible, but it cannot go a privilege of a fewer countries, nor a instrumentality of manipulation successful the hands of billionaires. Brazil and India are funny successful an emancipatory artificial quality — 1 that reflects the look of the Global South, strengthens taste diversity, and serves arsenic a instrumentality for peace, not war.
We request each chip, each algorithm, to transportation the people of societal inclusion. To execute this, we request intergovernmental governance of artificial intelligence. It is urgent that the United Nations beryllium astatine the centre of this debate, and that each states person a spot astatine the table. Our countries person the conditions to beryllium astatine the forefront of this agenda, arsenic demonstrated by the AI Impact Summit organised by the Indian government.
Brazil has emphasised the value of India’s upcoming BRICS presidency successful 2026. What are your expectations regarding India’s enactment successful the bloc, peculiarly with respect to the betterment of planetary governance institutions?
Brazil handed implicit the BRICS presidency to India successful 2026. I americium assured that India’s presidency volition transportation guardant important Brazilian initiatives for practice wrong the bloc, successful areas specified arsenic wellness and the combat against socially determined diseases, clime change, and artificial intelligence.
As for planetary governance, we are witnessing an unprecedented illness of multilateralism. The paralysis of the United Nations and its Security Council has contributed to the emergence successful equipped conflicts astir the world, to levels not seen since the extremity of the Second World War.
BRICS has a precise important relation to play successful this process. The radical is simply a defender of multilateralism and has legitimacy successful the debates connected a renewed governance, successful which the dependable of the Global South carries weight.
Brazil and India hold that planetary governance institutions indispensable bespeak the caller multipolar world of the 21st period and efficaciously beforehand peace. We are countries that person traditionally advocated betterment of the Council to marque it much legitimate, representative, effective, and democratic. It makes nary sense, astatine this signifier of the 21st century, for the Security Council not to see India, Brazil, and African countries arsenic imperishable members.
We afloat enactment India’s BRICS presidency successful advancing these objectives.
The long-pending Mercosur-India commercialized statement is expected to beryllium discussed during your visit. Do you spot this travel arsenic a decisive infinitesimal to beforehand this framework, peculiarly successful airy of the caller Mercosur-European Union statement and shifting planetary commercialized patterns?
When I took bureau again arsenic President of Brazil, astatine the opening of 2023, I made a committedness to unfastened caller markets and physique commercialized partnerships astir the world. In 3 years, we person opened much than 500 markets and, done Mercosur, signed important commercialized agreements with the European Union (EU), EFTA, and Singapore.
These agreements are multilateralism’s effect to protectionism and to the logic of commercialized wars that impoverish countries and summation inequality. Prime Minister Modi shares a precise akin presumption to ours connected the value of commercialized agreements.
It is successful this tone that expanding the Mercosur-India Agreement, successful unit since 2009, is 1 of the priorities of my visit. In its existent form, the statement is precise limited, arsenic it covers lone a tiny percent of products. We volition grow it and trim the barriers that inactive obstruct our trade. In doing so, we volition summation our commercialized flows, which stay acold beneath the size of our countries and economies.
At a clip erstwhile multilateralism is nether unit and large powers are redefining commercialized and information rules, however bash you spot Brazil and India moving unneurotic to signifier a much balanced, rules-based planetary bid that reflects the interests of the Global South?
Brazil and India person agelong coordinated intimately successful planetary fora. At the World Health Organization (WHO), we advocator wellness sovereignty and entree to medicines, vaccines, and indispensable inputs for nationalist health. At the WTO, we basal for rules-based trade.
A caller planetary bid requires betterment of planetary institutions and the strengthening of multilateralism and diplomacy. The existent architecture was designed successful 1945 and does not bespeak today’s world. But galore different institutions besides request to change. The World Bank, for example, needs betterment to grow the information of processing countries successful its leadership. The WTO indispensable besides retrieve its relation successful regulating planetary trade.
Brazil and India are particularly good positioned to thrust these transformations. As members of the G20, BRICS, and IBSA, we enactment unequivocally successful defence of multilateralism. We are earthy partners successful addressing immoderate of the top challenges of our time, namely the eradication of hunger and poorness and tackling clime change. We are besides 2 of the 10 largest economies successful the satellite and 2 of the largest democracies. We uphold universalist diplomatic traditions. The “strategic diversification” pursued by India converges with the universalism of Brazilian overseas policy. We are countries that prosecute with all, without automatic alignments. We are bridges betwixt the Global North and the Global South, and betwixt the West and the East. We privation to proceed expanding our relations with the world. It has agelong been said that it is earthy for Brazil and India to enactment much intimately together. For each these reasons, the clip has travel to crook this imaginable into reality.
