India and Brazil jointly reaffirmed their commitment to international peace and human rights during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Brazil. In a joint statement, Prime Minister Modi and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza, backing a negotiated two-state solution and emphasising the need for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access throughout the conflict zone.
The leaders stressed that diplomacy and dialogue are the only viable paths to lasting peace in West Asia. They reaffirmed support for UNRWA’s mandate and humanitarian role, while demanding the release of all hostages and protection of civilians.
Bold Trade Ambitions
Framing economic cooperation as the backbone of the strategic partnership, the two leaders set an ambitious target to raise bilateral trade to $20 billion over the next five years. This goal will be driven by a new ministerial-level Trade and Commerce Mechanism, tasked with tackling non-tariff barriers, enabling smoother investments and guiding the expansion of the India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
As reported previously, two major institutional advances were announced to support this push:
- The opening of India’s Exim Bank representative office in São Paulo, boosting credit and export-finance linkages
- The establishment of a Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) office in New Delhi, strengthening regulatory cooperation in pharmaceuticals and health tech
Five Pillars Of Strategic Roadmap
The India-Brazil relationship, elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2006, is now being structured around five pillars:
Defence And Security: Deeper cooperation through joint exercises, high-level exchanges, and an Agreement on Classified Information Exchange. A Defence Industry Cooperation MoU is expected soon, along with the first India-Brazil Cybersecurity Dialogue.
Food And Nutritional Security: Launch of an MoU between EMBRAPA and ICAR for joint research in biotechnology, animal genetics, and agricultural innovation to boost productivity and resilience.
Energy Transition And Climate Action: Both sides pledged stronger biofuels collaboration as founding members of the Global Biofuels Alliance, with joint focus on Sustainable Aviation Fuel, flex-fuel technologies, and offshore oil exploration with carbon capture goals. These priorities will also feed into preparations for COP‑30, hosted by Brazil later this year.
Digital Transformation And Emerging Tech: India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is set to expand to Brazil. A new MoU on Digital Public Infrastructure and AI collaboration will support Brazil’s digital inclusion and innovation initiatives, with Indian expertise in supercomputing, fintech and digital health being shared.
Industrial And Strategic Partnerships: The two nations aim to integrate supply chains across pharmaceuticals, defence manufacturing, critical minerals and oil & gas, while building capabilities in mining, processing and recycling of rare earths.
Space Cooperation, Supercomputing & AI
Both leaders announced new momentum in ISRO-Brazil space collaboration, covering satellite launches, ground stations, climate data-sharing and oceanic monitoring. Space R&D and personnel training will form part of the expanded cooperation, alongside deepening ties in AI, supercomputing and other frontier technologies.
Terrorism, Ukraine And Global Stability
Both nations condemned terrorism in all forms, including cross-border terrorism. They welcomed the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism and Transnational Organised Crime. The leaders also supported the newly adopted UN Convention on Cybercrime, scheduled for signing in Hanoi in 2025.
On the situation in Ukraine, Modi and Lula expressed concern over the humanitarian fallout and disruption to the Global South, urging all parties to return to diplomacy. They also jointly opposed the use of environmental and security pretexts for protectionist trade restrictions, calling for a rules-based global trading system led by the WTO.
Agreements Signed
Several new agreements and MoUs were finalised during the visit, including: Renewable Energy Cooperation; Digital Public Infrastructure; Agricultural Research; Intellectual Property Rights; Terrorism and Security Information Sharing. And agreements in sports, cultural exchange, archival cooperation and defence industry collaboration.
Strategic South-South Blueprint
Prime Minister Modi captured the spirit of the visit with a sporting comparison: “Football is Brazil’s passion; cricket is ours. Whether it’s scoring goals or hitting boundaries, when India and Brazil are on the same team, even a $20 billion trade partnership is not difficult to achieve.”
