With a view to strengthen their ties as India and Brazil head towards the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2023, the two countries on Saturday exchanged 15 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and also chalked out a road map towards their 75th anniversary goals. Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro is in New Delhi as chief guest for the 71st Republic Day parade on Sunday.
Brazil is one of the countries which shares India's vision of a world order not led by the victors of World War II, and seeks to establish a new order that takes new and emerging global realities into consideration. India is keen to now spread its diplomatic outreach towards South America. The 15 MoUs give an idea of the nature of interaction and engagement the two countries hope to develop. They encompass almost all spheres of modern concerns—from co operation in areas of sustainable development like bio energy to social development like health and early childhood ; from reviving ancient wisdom, like homeopathy and ayurveda to developing mutual legal assistance in legal matters, from co operation in cyber security to animal husbandry.
Prime minister Narendra Modi, in his address at Hyderabad House on Saturday, emphasised that developing healthy and high yielding cattle has been a unique element of the bilateral co operation. He said that in the past, Indian cows had been exported to Brazil, now the two countries were reenergising their dairy development and animal husbandry cooperation. Modi had last resorted to cattle diplomacy during his Rwanda visit, when he had gifted the African nation 200 cows. A centre of excellence in cattle genomics will soon come up in India with Brazilian assistance.
Ministry of external affairs said that the emphasis was on developmental delivarables and synergy in the two big economies. The two countries have agreed to set a target of USD 15 billion in bilateral trade by 2022. Brazil, a leader in bio-fuel production, has agreed to explore collaboration for ethanol production in India. “The prime minister identified biotechnology, health, low carbon technology and research in earth sciences as specific areas of cooperation under science and technology,'' and MEA statement said.
While India and Brazil may have complementary views on the global world order, and are in fact co-members of several plurilaterals—G 20, BRICS and IBSA—there are also areas of differences. One is regarding the sugar subsidies India provides its farmers, which countries like Brazil, Australia and Gautemala claim are against the obligations to the World Trade Organisation. The MEA said that “The two leaders recognized agriculture to be a key focus area for bilateral cooperation, an important part of both economies. On the issue of support given by India to sugarcane growers, the matter on which Brazil has filed a WTO dispute, it was agreed to address the issue through bilateral consultations.''
The effort clearly is to shrink the distance between Brazilia and New Delhi, both mentally and physically. For the latter, the Action Plan to strengthen strategic partnership between Brazil and India stresses the need to fully implement the 2011 Air Services Agreement between the two nations. The Action Plan chalks out areas of cooperation, which range from defence and defence production to development and environment. It suggests setting up joint working groups for several areas like geology, oil and minerals, defence, cyber security and trade.
