BRAZIL

India, Brazil to expand trade

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia on Wednesday as the two countries signed agreements on cooperation in the field of environment and remote sensing on the sidelines of the sixth BRICS summit on Wednesday.

The two met over breakfast on Wednesday after President Rousseff received Mr. Modi at the Presidential Palace with full military honours.

During the meeting, the two heads of nations agreed to take steps to further expand and diversify trade and investment flows and deepen cooperation in agriculture and dairy science, conventional and renewable energy, space research and application, defence, cyber security and environment conservation.

They also agreed to intensify cooperation in international forums and multilateral institutions, including the G 20.

Thanking President Rousseff for hosting a successful BRICS summit, Mr. Modi described it as a historic one, for the two important agreements — the New Development Bank and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement — it resulted in.

As leaders of G 4 countries, Mr. Modi and Ms. Rousseff called for urgent progress on reforms within the United Nations, including the Security Council, by the year 2015, which will mark the 70th anniversary of the U.N.

Mr. Modi hoped he would be able to visit Brazil on a full bilateral visit soon and invited Ms. Rousseff to India.

The two sides signed Memoranda of Understanding on environment; on cooperation in augmentation of a Brazilian earth station for receiving and processing data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites; and on cooperation in the establishment of a consultation mechanism on mobility and consular issues.

Modi for closer ties with Latin America

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered to expand cooperation with South American countries in areas like tele-medicine, tele-education and e-governance and promised to share India’s expertise in information technology with countries in the region.

In a statement made during the meeting of BRICS leaders with leaders of South American countries on Wednesday, Mr. Modi said India will “work closely with South America than ever before…at the bilateral level, as a BRICS member, in the G-77, as well as other international forums.”

“Our discussions today should throw up new ideas for partnership between BRICS and South America. The BRICS New Development Bank will open up newer opportunities of cooperation,” he said.

The Prime Minister said India would extend its “space capabilities” for weather forecasting, resource mapping and disaster management in the Latin American region.

Mr. Modi emphasised the need for more effective utilisation of the Preferential Trade Agreements between India and the MERCOSUR and between India and Chile.

MERCOSUR— comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay—was formed in 1991 to facilitate free movement of goods, services, capital and people among the four member countries and is the third largest integrated market after the European Union (EU) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

India and MERCOSUR had signed a PTA in 2004 offering reciprocal tariff preferences to each other with the ultimate objective of creating a free trade area.

India was not alone in working towards fostering closer ties with the resource-rich Latin American region. The other BRICS leaders also held talks with leaders from the continent.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had invited South American heads of nations from Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay, among others, to Brazil for interaction with BRICS leaders.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also stayed back in Brazil for an additional day to meet the leaders to launch a new China-CELAC (Community of Latin America and Caribbean States) forum.