India, Brazil discuss trade, critical minerals ahead of Lula's visit

Ajit Doval and Celso Amorim co-chaired the 6th India-Brazil Strategic Dialogue, reviewing ties in defence, energy and critical minerals as Lula prepares to visit India

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India and Brazil on Friday reviewed steps taken since July to strengthen ties in defence and security, energy, rare earths and critical minerals, health and pharmaceuticals.

 

Indian and Brazilian delegations, led respectively by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Ambassador Celso Luis Nunes Amorim, Special Advisor to the President of Brazil, met in New Delhi for the sixth India-Brazil Strategic Dialogue.

 

The two countries have intensified diplomatic engagement in recent months. New Delhi is preparing to host Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with a large business delegation, early next year. Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin is expected in India in the coming weeks to prepare for Lula’s visit.

 

Both nations are currently facing steep US tariffs and are looking to expand bilateral trade to offset losses, a subject Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed with Lula during their bilateral summit in Brasília on July 9. Lula spoke to Modi again on August 7, hours after the White House announced a 50 per cent tariff on both countries. He subsequently convened a virtual BRICS leaders’ meeting on the global economic environment, attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

 

India and Brazil have set a target of raising bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2030 and expanding the India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement. “The dialogue was an opportunity to follow up on the issues identified under five pillars of cooperation” during the Prime Minister’s visit to Brazil in July, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. The two delegations also discussed cooperation in multilateral fora such as BRICS, IBSA and the forthcoming COP-30, which Brazil will host in November.

 

India-Canada security cooperation

 

On Canada designating the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity earlier this week, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that NSA Doval met Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin in New Delhi on September 18.

 

“They had productive discussions on advancing the bilateral relationship in areas such as counter-terrorism, combating transnational organised crime and intelligence exchanges,” he said. The two NSAs agreed to strengthen security cooperation and reinforce existing mechanisms of engagement, the MEA spokesperson added.

 

Canada has accused the Bishnoi gang of possible involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The new designation will allow Canadian enforcement agencies to seize any assets of the gang in the country.

 

Protests in PoK

 

The MEA on Friday said Pakistan “must be held accountable for its horrific human rights violations” against civilians in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Several areas in PoK have witnessed widespread protests, with people demanding basic rights, justice and an end to what they described as systemic oppression.

 

“We have seen reports on protests in several areas of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, including brutalities by Pakistani forces on innocent civilians. We believe this is a natural consequence of Pakistan’s oppressive approach and its systemic plundering of resources from these territories, which remain under its forcible and illegal occupation,” Jaiswal said.