India has moved to strengthen trade ties with Brazil by signing a pact to expand collaboration in mining and minerals as it aims to meet increasing domestic steel demand and support capacity expansion amid intensifying global competition for raw materials.
The agreement was formalised in the presence of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who reached New Delhi earlier this week for a three-day visit.
Brazil holds large reserves of minerals critical to steel making and is among the world’s top producers of iron ore. The Indian government in a statement said that closer cooperation is anticipated to enhance India’s access to raw materials and technologies required to sustain long-term growth in its steel sector.
The statement further stated that the cooperation between the two countries will focus on attracting investment in exploration, mining and steel sector infrastructure.
Currently, India has steel making capacity of 218 million metric tons, and more companies are expanding output to meet increasing domestic demand driven by infrastructure development and industrialisation.
Speaking at a meeting with a Brazilian delegation led by Lula, Modi noted that their talks had centred on ways to strengthen the India-Brazil trade cooperation.
“We are committed to taking bilateral trade much beyond $20 billion in the next five years,” Modi said.
Bilateral trade between the two countries currently stands at about $15 billion. “Our nations will also work closely in areas such as technology, innovation, digital public infrastructure, AI, semiconductors and more,” Modi said.
Since 2006, India and Brazil have been strategic partners with cooperation spanning trade, defence, energy, agriculture, health, critical minerals, technology and digital infrastructure.
In the Latin America and Caribbean region, Brazil is India’s largest trading partner, and the two countries work closely on global issues such as UN reform, climate change and counter-terrorism.
On Thursday Lula called for Brazil and India to trade in their own respective national currencies instead of relying on the U.S. dollar for settlements, while also dismissing speculation that the BRICS group of countries, of which both nations are members, would introduce a shared currency.
