Author: Manoj Kumar and Mayank Bhardwaj
NEW DELHI, Feb 21 (Reuters) – India moved on Saturday to deepen trade ties with Brazil, signing a deal to expand mining and minerals cooperation to meet growing domestic steel demand and support capacity expansion amid global competition for raw materials.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit earlier this week.
Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers of iron ore and has large reserves of the mineral critical to steelmaking. Closer cooperation is expected to improve India’s access to raw materials and technology needed to sustain long-term growth in the steel industry, a government statement said.
infrastructure investment
The cooperation will focus on attracting infrastructure investment in the exploration, mining and steel industries, the statement said.
India has a steel production capacity of 218 million tons and companies are expanding production to meet growing domestic demand driven by infrastructure development and industrialization.
When Modi met with the Brazilian delegation led by Lula, he said that their talks focused on how to deepen the India-Pakistan trade partnership.
“We are committed to taking bilateral trade well beyond $20 billion in the next five years,” Modi said.
The current bilateral trade volume between the two countries is approximately US$15 billion.
“Our two countries will also work closely in areas such as technology, innovation, digital public infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors,” Modi said.
latin america’s largest trading partner
India and Brazil have been strategic partners since 2006, with cooperation covering trade, defence, energy, agriculture, health, critical minerals, technology and digital infrastructure.
Brazil is India’s largest trading partner in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the two countries work closely on global issues such as United Nations reform, climate change and counterterrorism.
Lula on Thursday advocated for Brazil and India to conduct trade in their own currencies rather than settle transactions in the United States. dollar, but dismissed speculation that the BRICS grouping of which both countries are members would create a common currency.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Jan Harvey)