The President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, embarks this Tuesday, 17th, for Asia, where he will visit India and South Korea. On the radar, in addition to political discussions, is the search for new markets and agreements in strategic sectors, such as critical minerals and aviation, among others.
Digital partnerships and in the artificial intelligence (AI) governance sector will also be on the agenda.
The president of Brazil returns to the country on the 24th.
Opportunity with security!
The most robust visit will be to New Delhi. Lula will speak alongside 20 other global leaders and is expected to meet with some of them on the sidelines of a summit on AI, promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
One of the focuses of the trip is the agreement to explore critical minerals. The foreign ministries negotiated a memorandum on the topic that must be signed by the Ministries of Mines and Energy of both countries.
According to two ambassadors who had access to the content, the memorandum is a document that does not establish plans or deadlines, but formalizes the interest of both countries and encourages exchanges of experiences, knowledge and investments in the future, involving public or private companies.
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Brazil has the second largest known rare earth reserves and seeks to attract global partners for research, extraction, processing and refining within the country, without being tied to exclusivity agreements.
The government has been courted by the US, which launched a diplomatic offensive in the field of critical minerals, led by Donald Trump, aimed at reducing dependence and challenging China’s dominance in the sector.
India, in turn, wants suppliers. In 2023, the country established a list of 30 essential critical minerals, according to the country’s demand in sectors such as defense, agriculture, energy, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, among others. In 2025, the government launched a $2 billion state-funded national plan to secure domestic and international supply sources for critical minerals.
The objective would be to establish seven centers of excellence in mining and register a thousand patents by 2030. The program is aimed at lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths, among others, and expects an additional US$2 billion in investments from public companies and other interested parties.
At least 8 agreements can be signed, although almost 20 have been discussed behind the scenes.
India and Brazil will also celebrate the entry into force of the extension of the validity of business and tourism visas from 5 to 10 years and reinforce the desire to expand the preferential trade agreement between Mercosur and India.
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Defense
In the private field, the immediate interest lies with the Brazilian aeronautical industry. The Indian air force will promote a billion-dollar competition to purchase up to 80 medium transport aircraft, to renew its fleet, and one of the models considered competitive is the KC-390.
There is still no date for the formal process to be launched, but the tender is one of the biggest opportunities in the defense aviation sector worldwide.
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Embraer teamed up with local company Mahindra for the dispute, which also has Airbus and Kawasaki as potential competitors.
Lula highlighted the Brazilian company’s willingness to create a production line on Indian soil, as Modi wishes, to meet the country’s demand.
Alone
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In South Korea, Lula will meet with President Lee Jae-myung, with whom he has political and personal affinities (they share a union past). The governments will launch a 2026-2029 action plan and establish a strategic partnership.
Although they intend to give momentum to negotiations, government members do not yet envisage a decision on opening the domestic market for Brazilian meat.
The same happened with Japan, last year, which opened inspections, but did not release imports.
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