Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will inaugurate an office of ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, in New Delhi during his visit to India from February 19 to 21.
Several agreements, including in the defence sector, trade and investment, science and technology, energy, biofuels, critical minerals, and rare earth elements are expected to be signed during President Lula’s India visit, where he will also attend the AI World Summit.
It will likely be the first of his two visits to India this year, as New Delhi will also be hosting the BRICS Summit later this year.
A big Brazilian business delegation will accompany Lula on his India visit. During their approximately 45-minute long phone call on Thursday evening, Lula and Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed upon the importance of the upcoming Brazil-India Business Forum. With the inauguration of the ApexBrasil office, the forum will meet on February 21.
In a post on X late Thursday evening, Lula shared details of his discussion with Modi, confirming the dates of the visit. He said the two of them highlighted the importance of the Brazil-India Business Forum that will take place during his visit, which will also be marked by the inauguration of the Apex-Brasil office in New Delhi.
The two leaders also agreed to focus on cooperation in defence, trade, health, science and technology, energy, biofuels, critical minerals, and rare earth elements, a Brazilian government statement said.
“Both leaders highlighted the importance of the Brazil-India Business Forum on February 21 and welcomed the engagement of the private sector from both countries in the visit,” it said.
The two leaders also exchanged views on the global situation. They reaffirmed their conviction regarding the need for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations and its Security Council. In this regard, they reiterated their commitment to peace in Gaza and, more generally, to the defence of world peace, multilateralism, and democracy, the Brazilian government said.
Modi and Lula met in Brasilia in July and later on the margins of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg in November, and expressed satisfaction at “the significant progress achieved across diverse areas of bilateral cooperation, including trade and investment, technology, defence, energy, health, agriculture, and people-to-people ties,” the Indian government said.
India and Brazil have stepped up their diplomatic engagement since July.
In October, Indian and Brazilian delegations, led respectively by India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Ambassador Celso Luis Nunes Amorim, who is the Special Advisor to the President of Brazil, met in New Delhi for the 6th India-Brazil Strategic Dialogue.
It was followed by a visit to New Delhi by Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin.
The two countries have looked at greater strategic cooperation as well as increasing their trade, especially after the White House imposed excessive tariffs. The Brazilian President had dialled Modi on August 7, hours after the White House announced imposing 50 per cent tariffs on both countries.
The two countries have set the target of increasing their bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2030 and expanding the India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement.
In December 2025, India and Brazil signed an agreement to advance dairy cattle and buffalo genomics. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi was on an official visit to Brazil in December 2025, where the two sides reviewed the deepening India-Brazil defence engagement.
Apart from Modi, Lula also dialled Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi assured his Brazilian counterpart that China would stand by Latin America’s biggest economy and the Global South, and called for both nations to maintain the role of the United Nations. Lula has criticised the US attack on Venezuela in an opinion piece in the New York Times this week.
 "Lula's India visit to spotlight defence pacts, ApexBrasil office in Delhi")
