New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday described Brazil as India’s “key global partner”, and reaffirmed to President Dilma Rousseff the “vast potential” for bilateral cooperation, a PMO statement said.
Modi was earlier received with full military honours at the presidential palace in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. He is in Brazil for the sixth BRICS summit.
“Modi noted that as two democracies and major emerging economies, India and Brazil not only had vast potential for bilateral cooperation, but also to strengthen each other in international forums and advance the interest of the developing world at large,” the statement said.
It added that Modi told Rousseff that Gujarat has emerged as a prime driver of India’s economic relations with Brazil.
Rousseff, whom Modi congratulated for hosting an “excellent” FIFA World Cup, emphasised the international significance of the partnership between India and Brazil.
“Rousseff congratulated Narendra Modi for his impressive victory in the (Lok Sabha) elections and wished him all success for India’s progress and development,” the statement said.
Modi described the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit as “a historic one, which has produced two important agreements — the New Development Bank and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement — and lauded Rousseff for her guidance during the summit”.
The two leaders agreed to take steps to further expand and diversify trade and investment flows and deepen cooperation in agriculture and dairy science, conventional and renewable energy, space research and applications, defence, cyber security and environment conservation.
They also agreed to intensify their cooperation in international fora and multilateral institutions, including the G20.
“As leaders of G4 countries, Modi and Rousseff called for urgent progress on reforms of the United Nations, including the Security Council, by the time of the 70th anniversary of the UN in 2015,” the statement said.