The President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Mr Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to India as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations is the high point of a series of interactions between India and Brazilian leaders in the recent past. These meetings have been part of the growing interaction between the two developing nations in the political and economic spheres; they have also marked India's focus on building its relations with Latin American countries. Mr Silva's visit is an indication of the commitment of both countries to shape closer bilateral ties and build on long term planning for mutual cooperation in a variety of spheres.

There has been a growing commonality in India-Brazil positions on several issues and both governments have made efforts to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation. They have cooperated at multilateral meetings on a number of issues such as international trade and development, environment, reform of the UN system and expansion of the UN Security Council. It was by adopting a common approach at the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun last year that the two countries could protect their individual interests in the agriculture sector. It enabled India to withstand the pressure to begin negotiations on opening Indian agriculture to imports.

A series of meetings and visits last year have helped to give an impetus to the rapidly developing political ties. India and Brazil are said to share similar perceptions on several issues of interest to developing countries, they also have experiences to share in political and social realms. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Silva met on two occasions last year. They met at the G-7 summit at Evian and again in September during the UN General Assembly session at the meeting of the trilateral India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum with South African President Thabo Mbeki.

External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha had visited Brazil in June when the IBSA agreement was signed in Brasilia. He also met his Brazilian counterpart, the Foreign Minister, Mr Celso Amorim, in New York in September last. Defence Minister George Fernandes visited Brazil last year leading to an Indo-Brazil agreement on defence cooperation that was signed when the Brazilian Defence Minister, Mr Jose Vieges Filho, visited Delhi in December. The two sides expressed interest in working together in the area of shipbuilding, avionics and software systems.

The first meeting of the India-Brazil Joint Commission was held in New Delhi in October when Mr Yashwant Sinha and Mr Amorim discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral ties. The two sides focussed on strengthening political contacts, build trade and economic linkages, improve connectivity and create institutional linkages with regional groups. They also agreed to continue joint efforts to coordinate their policy positions in the G-20 group in order to promote the interests of developing countries in WTO talks. The Joint Commission set up working groups in the field of science and technology, space, social matters, health, energy, transport, agriculture, tourism, trade, culture and education. These working groups held a round of preliminary discussions to formulate proposals for further action.

India is to organise a major Indian cultural festival in Brazil later this year. India has been exploring several railway projects in Latin America. Rites is already involved in a rail project in Colombia and has expressed interest in the rail system in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. The Brazilian side had welcomed India's participation in building railway infrastructure in Brazil as the country was looking at the integration of South America through the railways. India offered to launch a Brazilian scientific micro-satellite on an Indian rocket and also a possible sale of a super computer of the Param series.

The Commerce Ministry had launched its "Focus Latin America" programme in 2002, setting up a India-Brazil Commercial Council later that year to promote trade and investment between the two countries. India-Brazil two-way trade has tripled in the period 1998 to 2003 touching the level of about $1.2 billion and is expected to go up further. Indian imports from Brazil include crude oil, Soya oil, auto parts and inorganic chemicals, while its main exports are diesel oil, pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering goods and rubber. The Brazilian National Health programme provides free treatment for HIV/AIDS and other diseases and it sources less costly drugs and medicines from India. India has proposed a fixed preferential tariff agreement with MERCOSUL, the customs union between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, which would give further impetus to trade with that region.

While India-Brazil ties have been improving in the economic sphere, President Silva's Government has given the bilateral relationship an added impetus. The Brazilian leader won the October 2002 elections with a wide margin to usher in the first Left-wing Government in the country in over four decades. The former trade union leader promised many changes in the economic and political sphere; he had promised to curb corruption, improve the education system and create jobs.

President Silva has set his country on a new path with an independent foreign policy. He is seeking to forge an anti-rich country alliance to act as a counter to the high trade barriers and dominance by the US and European Union in the global economic negotiations. Brazil ordered reciprocal fingerprinting and photographing of American citizens on arrival in Brazil after the US introduced new security regulations that required fingerprinting of foreign visitors.

In his inaugural speech, the Brazilian President had listed India as one among the priority areas of his Government's new foreign policy. Brazil also identified India as one of its six major trading partners, together with the US, France, Germany, China and Japan. At the Joint Commission meeting, Mr Yashwant Sinha had characterised Indo-Brazilian ties as entering a "totally new dimension". Both countries are now actively engaged in crossing the geographical divide to consolidate their relations.