President pointed out that, as a global leader in technology, India has a lot to teach Brazil: ‘Cooperation in digital public infrastructure will improve government services and make the business environment safer.’
In a speech read by the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC), Márcio Elias Rosa, the president sent to participants of the Brazil-India Economic Forum a speech celebrating the partnerships already held and pointing to a promising future between the two countries, who hold a meeting on Tuesday (8) at.
“Tomorrow we will be gathered in Brasilia to deepen bilateral relations and leverage cooperation projects. In the current global context of tariff war and protectionism, the integration between Brazilians and Indians is strategic. We are two of the ten largest economies in the world,” said Lula’s text. The Brazilian president was expected to close the forum along with the Prime Minister of, who did not attend either.
The statement says the two countries have expanding consumer markets and dynamic and innovative entrepreneurs. “But the flow of commerce is not up to the magnitude of our potential. In 2024, it was only $ 12 billion of trade,” the executive chief said in the speech.
He stressed that the Brazilian export agenda is traditionally concentrated in a few items, but that the country is determined to change this reality. “The ambition of the Mercosur-India agreement, in force since 2089, can boost results in new sectors,” he predicted.
“This semester, this will be a priority of the Brazilian presidency of the bloc. In the last two years, we have held more than 70 business missions to India. In the same period, we received 40 Indian technical visits here in Brazil,” he said.
Lula pointed out that, as a global leader in technology, India has a lot to teach Brazil. “Cooperation in digital public infrastructures will improve government services and make the business environment safer. In the area of energy, our successful trajectory of oil and gas collaboration has been increasingly diversified,” he said.
Lula recalled that Brazil and India are already partners with the global alliance for biofuels, launched in the Indian presidency of the G20, and that India is the fastest growing bioenergy market in the world. “The country set a goal to expand to 20% the mixture of ethanol in gasoline and to 5% the proportion of biodiesel in dioxide oil,” he said. “The memorandum of understanding that we will adopt tomorrow in Brasilia will reinforce our technological and regulatory abilities in renewable energy,” said Lula, about the meeting scheduled with Modi.
The president stressed that India is a strategic supplier of active pharmaceutical inputs for Brazil, and that the Indian supply was essential for facing the COVID-19 pandemic. “The recent agreement between Brazilian Biomm and Indian Wockhardt allowed the resumption of national insulin production,” he said.
According to him, new partnerships can expand the manufacture of medicines and vaccines contributing to the strengthening of the SUS, as well as the defense and aerospace areas also offer possibilities.
“The business council we created in this forum will further multiply the channels between entrepreneurs and the connections between the productive chains. My ladies and my ladies, in a month will be celebrated Raksha Bandhan, Indian tradition that celebrates the bond between brothers. May the symbolism of this festivity inspire us to deepen the ties that already exist and that we built even more today,” said the Brazilian president.
*With information from Estadão Content
Posted by Nátaly Tenório
