India-Brazil discuss convergence on Defence

The India-Brazil Business Forum was organised during Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's official visit to India. Bolsonaro and other ministers addressed the Indian and Brazilian business leaders at the event. In an exclusive interview by senior journalist Smita Sharma, Secretary for Defence Products, Marcos Degaut said that Brazil is keen to expand the defence partnership with India beyond the buyer-seller relationship and with convergence on ‘Make In India’.

New Delhi: A day after India and Brazil inked 15 MoUs following formal talks between Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsanoro, the two sides focussed on trade and defence discussions to further strengthen the strategic partnership.

Addressing the India- Brazil Business Forum on Monday, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Fraga Araujo cited the preferential trade agreement inked as key to attain and surpass trade goals.

The two countries have set a target of going from the existing 8 billion USD bilateral trade to 15 billion USD by 2022.

Araujo claimed that unlike in the past governments in Brazil, the different ministries are working unitedly as one team to achieve this goal. He also praised Modi for modernising India without giving up on its values and traditions while criticising those who preach a ‘post-nationalist’ or ‘anti-nationalist’ world that seeks to renounce identities to grow.

While addressing the India- Brazil Business Forum in Delhi, Brazilian Foreign Minister Araujo said, “We from Brazil saw India, a powerful country that is proud of itself. United in its diversity. ”

“A society that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi is modernising without giving up on its traditions and values,” he added.

Since his surprise win in 2018, Bolsanoro an extreme opponent of liberal socialism has charted Brazil on a path of populist nationalism. The foreign minister assured that his country is identifying trade barriers and regulatory issues to remove them.

Addressing the forum meeting in presence of President Bolsanoro, Union Minister of India Piyush Goyal hoped that the bilateral relationship would become ‘pride for both the countries and the world’s envy’, reminiscent of the tagline used by a television company in an old advertisement.

Welcoming Bolsanaro’s announcement to allow visa-free travel for Indians to Brazil, Goyal hoped that the two sides can cooperate closely on value chains, railways expansion, environment and biofuels among others.

President Bolsanoro, the third Head of State from Brazil to be invited as Chief Guest for India’s Republic Day Parade, underlined that the two countries are moving in the right direction.

Recognizing the industrial expertise in the defense sector of both countries, India and Brazil have called upon an early convening of the Joint Working Commission on Defence Industrial Cooperation.

Speaking to senior journalist Smita Sharma exclusively for ETV Bharat, Secretary for Defence Products, Marcos Degaut said that Brazil is keen to expand the defence partnership with India beyond the buyer-seller relationship and with convergence on ‘Make In India’.

Here is the interview with Marcos Degaut for ETV Bharat:

Q- What do you hope to achieve from the defence discussions?

We are starting to build a new relationship. What we entering into new areas of strategic cooperation. What we are trying to do here is to give some more concreteness to the 2006 strategic partnership that was signed between our two countries. But to be honest not much has been done so far. We are here to establish some working groups in the defence area, to identify common projects, to identify common interests, to try and see how we can progress in this area.

Q-Are you looking for military cooperation or military exercises?

We are here to deepen the ties between our defence industries. So we are looking to expanding the productive capacity of our industries. That is the first stage. This is what we need to do. We are not here to sell or to buy. We have to identify areas of common interest to see how we can develop products that may serve both our armed forces through either the possibility of establishing a fund with private capital for amplification of productive capacities of our defence industries.

Q- How do you look to reconcile PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ pitch in defence?

I truly believe that the Make in India is a very important initiative and that is how it needs to be. We need to build capabilities locally and our businessmen understand that and that is why I said, "we are not here to sell or buy". We want to identify areas we can jointly cooperate and produce what is necessary for our armed forces, generate jobs locally and attract investments.