SALCETE: India and Brazil on Monday signed four Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) during a bilateral meeting held in Goa’s Salcete city.
The four MoUs that have been signed are on genetic resources, agriculture, animal husbandry, natural resources and fisheries, on pharmaceutical products regulation, on cattle genomics and assisted reproductive technologies, and on investment cooperation and facilitation treaty.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Michel Temer witnessed the signing of the MoUs.
India and Brazil share a very close and multifaceted relationship at bilateral as well as multilateral fora such as IBSA, BRICS, BASIC, G-20, G-4 or the larger multilateral arena such as the UN, WTO, UNESCO, WIPO, etc.
Bilateral relations between India and Brazil have acquired the dimension of a strategic partnership in the last decade.
Brazil is one of the most important trading partners of India in the entire LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) region. India-Brazil bilateral trade has increased substantially in the last two decades. However, the global drop in commodity prices and the economic recession in Brazil in 2015 affected Brazil’s overall trade. Evidently, some negative impact was felt in the India- Brazil bilateral trade as well.
Indian exports to Brazil stood at USD 4.29 billion in 2015 as compared to USD 6.63 billion in 2014 and USD 6.36 billion in 2013.
Indian imports from Brazil stood at USD 3.62 billion compared to USD 4.789 billion in 2014 and USD 3.13 billion in 2013. Thus the overall bilateral trade was at USD 7.9 billion, decreasing 30.7 percent from USD 11.424 billion in 2014.
About 39 percent of Indian exports were value added petroleum products such as diesel. The other prominent export items from India were organic chemicals and pharmaceutical products valued at USD 730 Million. Boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances were other major items in India’s export basket. The other important export items included textile products (cotton, apparels, accessories etc.) which amounted to USD 150 million.