3 months ago
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Brazil is getting acceptable for the Carnival this weekend, erstwhile the state virtually comes to a halt, but hectic preparations are underway successful Brasilia for President Lula da Silva’s upcoming sojourn to India with a concern delegation of 260 companies.
The largest-ever Brazilian delegation to India marks the culmination of the highest-level engagement betwixt the 2 countries implicit the past fewer years — successful a challenging geopolitical scenario. This could besides beryllium the Brazilian leader’s past large overseas engagement earlier Brazil gets into predetermination mode for the statesmanlike polls successful October this year.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral gathering with Lula successful Brasilia successful July 2025, erstwhile they discussed the enlargement of bilateral trade, the Brazilian leader’s travel to New Delhi, from February 19 to 21, is being fixed apical precedence by the Brazilian government.
Celso Amorim, who serves arsenic Lula’s main overseas argumentation adviser, sees the sojourn arsenic an accidental for collaboration successful strategical sectors betwixt 2 emerging economies. “Cooperation betwixt Brazil and India tin beryllium precise broad, but I would item supra each 2 domains: exertion and defence,” Mr. Amorim told The Hindu.
“Brazil and India person developed, each successful its ain way, precise important aspects of biotechnology too. In abstraction science, India has fixed america a large illustration of however it is imaginable to execute large accomplishments without needfully resorting to the exertion of the affluent countries,” said Mr. Amorim, who has earlier served arsenic Foreign Minister and Defence Minister nether Presidents Lula and Dilma Rouseff, respectively.
Since the 2025 bilateral meeting, the Brazilian broadside has been moving to fortify its commercialized ties with India. Jorge Viana, caput of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex Brazil), told The Hindu that Lula asked him past twelvemonth to enactment unneurotic a delegation arsenic portion of his efforts to grow commercialized ties with India.
“In Delhi, the President volition enactment successful the Artificial Intelligence summit, but we are besides organising a immense concern gathering successful collaboration with our Foreign Ministry. Apex is besides opening an bureau successful Delhi arsenic we spot India, the astir populous nation, arsenic 1 of the economies with the top imaginable for growth,” Mr. Viana told The Hindu from Brasília. “Till past year, India was our 10th biggest trading partner, but present successful caller months it has been competing to beryllium the fifth. It could go the 3rd biggest.”
In 2025, Brazil purchased Indian products worthy $8.5 billion, portion Brazilian exports to India totalled $7 cardinal — chiefly successful oil, sugar, molasses, fats and rootlike oils and robust ore sectors. However, Mr. Viana says, Brazilians present privation to diversify their exports to India.
“We person 260 Brazilian companies attending the lawsuit that Apex is organising successful Delhi. We person representatives from each strategical sectors. We are taking a batch of radical from the wellness area, including our Health Minister, due to the fact that India is simply a large supplier of medicines to Brazil. We besides person important companies of ethanol and biofuel onboard due to the fact that determination is already an statement betwixt Brazil and India successful the area.” He added that determination could beryllium a large announcement astir the accomplishment of Embraer, the Brazilian craft manufacturing firm, successful India.
With vigor information and sustainability reshaping planetary alignments — and threatening to rupture the existing satellite bid amid intensifying geopolitical rivalries — the Brazilian broadside is keen to deepen engagement with India successful these areas. “We person to enactment unneurotic for the vigor transition, without forgetting that we inactive person a ample commercialized successful oil. We cannot, from 1 hr to the next, wantonness oil, but we bash person to enactment truthful that the satellite is much sustainable. And sustainable not lone from the economical and vigor constituent of view, but besides from governmental constituent of view,” says Mr. Amorim, who has been 1 of the astir influential Brazilian voices successful planetary affairs for 2 decades.
While commercialized whitethorn predominate Lula’s docket successful Delhi, Brazil is besides looking astatine India’s presidency of BRICS successful 2026 to further beforehand the speech connected planetary governance and multilateralism which is nether threat. For Mr. Amorim, the grouping indispensable statement connected reforming the planetary bid to bespeak the interests of the Global South.
“It is important that the Indian presidency of BRICS leads this treatment astir the existent satellite bid and however to alteration it. We each cognize the conflict determination is for the enlargement of the UN Security Council. A satellite without rules is simply a precise hard world. India and Brazil person ever worked with rules — the rules that they helped to physique and that benefited us. And this is lone imaginable wrong a balanced multilateral system, which BRICS has to assistance fortify and rebuild,” said the advisor to Lula.
With U.S. President Donald Trump throwing retired the rulebook connected planetary trade, emerging economies person begun to research much commercialized with different countries and blocs. Just a fewer weeks earlier India signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU, the South American commercialized bloc Mercosur, which Brazil is portion of, besides finalised its pact with the Europeans. Now, the long-pending Mercosur-India FTA whitethorn besides travel up for superior treatment during Lula’s visit.
“The hostility of the U.S. with the full satellite has generated opportunities for countries similar Brazil, which person nary disputes with anyone. The Mercosur–EU statement is moving guardant well. Though it is simply a multilateral statement and involves galore tariffs, we volition sermon it with the Indian side,” said Mr. Viana, who is simply a subordinate of Lula’s Workers Party and a adjacent confidant of the President.
Brazil is yet to hold connected a commercialized woody with the U.S. But, with the largest-ever concern delegation to India successful his 3rd word arsenic president, the Brazilian person is looking astatine striking large deals with a chap BRICS subordinate earlier returning location aft the Carnival is over.
