Change economic geography, Brazil’s Lula tells India Inc

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva on Tuesday told Indian industry captains that the time had come to stop being defensive about ...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva on Tuesday told Indian industry captains that the time had come to stop being defensive about being part of the developing world but rather form a coordinated relationship between such countries that could change the ‘economic geography’ of the world.

Addressing a joint conference by Ficci and CII, Lula said that the WTO ministerial round at Cancun had demonstrated that developed countries could not ignore the needs of the developing countries but the way to get the nest was to negotiate hard rather than ‘‘crying at WTO, trying to reduce subsidies’’ by the developed countries. ‘‘They (developed nations) will come to us if they know we have new business options,’’ he said, stating the importance of negotiations.

Brazil said the developing nations must work in close coordination, and sought to deepen ties with India on all fronts, including trade, politics and culture. Lula asserted the current century would belong to India, China, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Brazil.

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The importance of Brazilian President’s visit to India has to be seen beyond the just an exercise in bilateral relations or diplomatic exchange. India and Brazil have common interests and were the two main countries which stalled the march of the agenda dictated by developed countries at the Cancun ministerial. As a result, The Indo-Brazilina freindship could have a long lasting impact on the outcome of multilateral negotiations. In an obvious dig at developed nations, Lula said, ‘‘only obstacles put forth by US and EU, two large trade blocks, obliged the developing countries to fight them out at multilateral fora.’’

Earlier Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said there was need to enhance bilateral trade which had remained at $1.2 billion. Highlighting the improvement in economic environment of Brazil, Lula asked Indian businesses to explore the possibility of investing in his country’s infrastructure sector, including highways, railways, energy and tourism. He also stressed on the need for an air-link between Sao Paulo-Johhanesburg-Mumbai. He said India’s prefrential trade agreement with Mercosur countries would bring about greater dynamism in business relations, allowing Indians access to a common market of 220 million consumers. He expressed the hope that whole of South America would eventually join Mercosur and participate in freer trade with India.