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Brazil-India: Consolidating
Partnership
India and Brazil established diplomatic relations in April 1948,
a few months after the Indian independence. The two biggest developing
countries in the tropical area, they have characteristics and
challenges that induce the shared perception of the obstacles
imposed on them by the international political and economic system.
Because both are relevant actors in their respective geographic
regions and have global projection, Brazil and India have developed
close positions in multilateral fora on various relevant issues
of the international agenda.
Until recently, the strengthening of bilateral relations between
the countries had been inhibited by several factors, such as geographical
distance and the adoption of an economic model centred on self-reliance,
among others. The visit of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Brazil
in 1968 and reciprocal ministerial visits, including two Brazilian
Foreign Ministers, in the following years tried to make relations
more dynamic. However important from the symbolic point of view,
they did not yield the co-operative results to match the potential
of both countries. The widening and strengthening of bilateral
co-operation only became possible in the last decade thanks to
the advancements in communications and the almost simultaneous
adoption of economic reforms by both Brazil and India. From the
perception of the new possibilities, derives the signature, in
1992, of a memorandum of understanding that creates of a forum
to discuss issues of common interest at the bilateral and multilateral
levels.
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso visited India in January 1996,
and President
K. R. Narayanan reciprocated it in May 1998. Those initiatives
enabled a better mapping of the road for denser relations and
devised new instruments to achieve
these goals.
In the last three years, bilateral ties were created in the various
areas, on the basis of new synergies. At the same time, the co-ordination
in economic multilateral fora, so important in the past to promote
the interests of developing countries, has become ever more important,
as shown in the IV Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation,
held in Doha in 2002. At that occasion, India’s support
of the Brazilian proposal was instrumental for the approval of
the Declaration on Intellectual Property and Public Health.
The relationship with India has been made one of the priorities
of the foreign policy of the new Government, inaugurated on January
1st, 2003. The first element in the newly found dynamism is the
remarkable growth in the bilateral trade. Less than four years
ago (1998), Brazil exported US$ 144,9 million to India and imported
US$ 211,7, totalling US$ 356,6 million. In 2002, Brazil exported
US$ 653,6 million to India and imported US$ 573 million, totalling
US$ 1,226 billion. Moreover, there has been a much greater diversification
in the items exchanged between both countries.
In great measure, the increase in the Indian sales to Brazil is
an example of the synergy between the demand of the Brazilian
National Health Programme, which provides free treatment for HIV
and other diseases, and the capacity of the Indian pharmaceutical
sector to provide high quality drugs at a moderate price. In 2000,
Brazil began to export crude oil to India and to import fuel oil
from Indian refineries, an exchange that has been widely responsible
for the increase in bilateral trade. The export of services and
advanced technology is present in the bilateral exchanges. Brazilian
companies are operating in the electronic and IT sectors in India,
while Indian companies have established joint ventures in Brazil
with local counterparts. On the financial side, a credit line
has been established in 2002 between the EXIMBANK of India and
a leading Brazilian private bank. The results reaped in trade
were made possible thanks to the efforts of both Governments and
the response of the private sector of both countries. TheMinistry
of Commerce and Industry of India has been implementing the programme
“Focus Latin America” to provide support to exhibitions
and trade missions to that region; a good number of them goes
to Brazil. Likewise, the Government of Brazil has enabled the
Embassy to participate in trade fairs held in India such as the
India Information Trade Fair. In April 2002, the largest Brazilian
trade mission ever to visit India was headed by the Brazilian
Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce, Sérgio
Amaral. Under the co-sponsorship of the Embassy of Brazil and
the Confederation of Indian Industry, the first comprehensive
seminar, with the participation of a great number of businessmen
from both sides, was held to present an in-depth analysis of the
Brazilian and Indian economies. The potential for co-operation
in many sectors was underlined with an emphasis on information
technology, pharmaceutical, sugar and ethanol, telecom, automobile,
food, public transportation, shoewear, marketing and banking and
financial services. Statistics on the bilateral trade already
show the results of this event. Also during Minister Amaral’s
visit, the “Indo-Brazilian Commercial Council” held
its first meeting to discuss new possibilities in trade and joint
ventures. There is an increasing flow of business people from
one country to the other either on the initiative of their own
corporation, or by invitation of entities such as SEBRAE , and
India’s National
Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM).
In mid June the partners in MERCOSUL, the customs union integrated
by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay signed a Framework
Agreement on Trade with India. This instrument sets the principles
to govern the Agreement on Fixed Preferential Tariffs between
those parties, under negotiation, to be signed by August 31st.
This initiative will greatly enhance the business ties and cooperation
between India and the MERCOSUL countries.
1 For details on the bilateral trade, see http://www.brazilembassyinindia.com/commerce.asp.
2 SEBRAE is the Brazilian agency for support to small and medium
companies.
In Science and Technology, the relationship became more solid
in sectors that may
have an impact on the economic and social spheres. In July 2001,
the Indian Minister of Petroleum, Mr. Ram Naik, visited Brazil
with the purpose of gathering data on the Brazilian experience
of mixing ethanol to gasoline (PROALCOOL). This
visit encouraged the adoption of a similar programme in India.
A bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on the matter was signed
in April 2002. This document offers the Brazilian expertise in
manufacturing ethanol and provides for
the exchange of experiences and joint research on bio-diesel.
A mission of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce
and entrepreneurs from different
sectors involved in the PROALCOOL, including the automotive one,
visited India in
2002. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI) sponsored a bilateral seminar, with the support of the
Embassy, for an in-depth discussion on the Brazilian Programme.
The meeting was opened by Minister Ram Naik, who announced the
steps taken to expand the programme in India. On Information Technology,
since the visit of Mr. Pramod Mahajan, the Indian Minister for
this area, to Brazil in 2001, reciprocated by the Brazilian Minister
for Science and Technology, Ronaldo Sardenberg, in 2002, a working
group was created for the setting up of a co-operation programme
on e-banking, egovernance, electronic certification systems training,
among other areas. The working group met twice, both in Brazil
and India.
Co-operation in Science and Technology started in the 1960s through
personal contacts among researchers from both countries. Today
it is the object of institutional understandings that were made
possible thanks to the visit to Brazil of Minister M. M. Joshi.
The Brazilian counterpart, Minister Sardenberg, reciprocated
that visit in February and October 2002. A Managing Committee
and a High Level
Scientific Council are already designated to recommend ways and
means of implementing bilateral co-operation. In October 2002,
the President of the Brazilian Council for the Development of
Science and Technology headed a mission on biotechnology. A working
programme for biotechnology was then signed which will generate
joint research in areas such as medicine, agriculture and bio-informatics.
On the basis of a careful identification of the subject matters
of common interest undertaken at a bilateral seminar, biotechnology
programmes of both countries were analysed. There are additional
joint working programmes in the areas of marine sciences, renewable
energy sources and new materials.
Even areas such as space and atmospheric sciences are not alien
to the cooperation, having been covered by a memorandum of understanding
signed by the space agencies of the two countries in March 2002,
which includes the draft of a joint working programme for specific
practical applications in meteorology, climate and earth and ocean
observations.
Cultural relations are an integral part of our activities by means
of several initiatives both in Brazil and India. In our case,
the Brazilian presence for two consecutive years in the Calcutta’s
Book Fair has always attracted large crowds. Brazilian books have
also been displayed in the New Delhi Book Fair. In 2001, an anthology
of Brazilian literary texts was launched with the support of the
Book Trust of India: “Tropical Rhymes-Tropical Reasons”
compiles poems and excerpts of
contemporary novels by Brazilian authors, translated into English
by the reader of Brazilian Studies at the University of Goa. In
Brazil, the book “Diálogos Tropicais: Brasil-Índia”(Tropical
Dialogues: Brazil-India) is being published with articles of Brazilian
scholars. Brazilian participation in film festivals in India has
been deserving of awards and praise. The I Latin American Cultural
Festival is being organised for September 2003, when a significant
Brazilian presence is to be expected.
The importance of the strengthening of bilateral relations was
recognised by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his
inaugural speech, as he cited the country
as one of the priorities of Brazilian foreign policy. In June
2003, Mr. Yashwant Sinha paid an official visit to Brazil. Our
relations were then analysed both at the bilateral and multilateral
levels. In spite of the considerable progress made bilaterally,
there is still a lot more to achieve in view of the economic,
scientific, technological and cultural levels of both countries.
There are experiences to share in the political and social realms.
The Minister of External Relations of Brazil, Ambassador Celso
Amorim, will be reciprocating that visit in the second semester
of 2003. The links between the two countries are substantial enough
to justify the creation of a Joint Commission to be inaugurated
then.
Also in June, the Foreign Minister of South Africa paid a visit
to Brasília to meet with her counterparts from Brazil and
India. A dialogue forum between the three countries was then created
(IBSA) that will enhance cooperation in multilateral fora and
also provide the basis for trilateral cooperation. Ours are countries
of big territorial dimensions, political weight in their respective
regions and similar advances in economy, science and technology.
The forum will also generate cross stimulation on the bilateral
cooperation between its members.
The Indo-Brazilian relations are expanding in great speed. The
political will from both governments in this direction have been
able to get good response from a number of actors, including the
private sector of both countries to estabilish long lasting partnership.
Countries that are so different in many aspects while so similar
in many others can now stress complementary factors that will
multiply their capacity to better face the challenges of globalisation
and competitiveness, to the
benefit of their population.
Source: Embassy of Brazil (www.brasilemb.org; www.brazilembassyinindia.com)
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