India and Brazil Set $20 Billion Trade Goal, Sign Six Pacts to Boost Bilateral Ties

July 9, 2025 – In a significant diplomatic and economic development, India and Brazil have set an ambitious target to nearly double their annual bilateral trade to USD 20 billion over the next five years. This announcement came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Brasilia for bilateral talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Modi travelled to Brasilia on Monday evening after attending the two-day BRICS summit in the seaside Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

Six Cooperation Agreements Inked

The two nations signed six major agreements aimed at strengthening ties across a wide range of sectors:

• Combating international terrorism and organised crime
• Exchange and mutual protection of classified information
• Cooperation in renewable energy
• Digital transformation and large-scale tech solutions
• Agricultural research
• Intellectual property rights

Strong Stand Against Terrorism

Prime Minister Modi emphasized a unified stance against terrorism, stating that both countries share a zero tolerance policy and oppose any form of double standards on terrorism. “We strongly oppose terrorism and those who support terrorism,” he stated, reinforcing security collaboration as a key pillar of the partnership.

Expanding Economic and Tech Collaboration

With current trade levels hovering around USD 13 billion, the leaders discussed concrete steps to scale this figure up to USD 20 billion. Energy cooperation, especially in clean and renewable sources, was highlighted as a priority area, along with increasing ties in digital public infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and supercomputing.

“Our cooperation in the field of energy is constantly growing. Environment and clean energy are the main priorities of both countries,” the prime minister said. “The agreement that has been made today to increase cooperation in this area will give new direction and momentum to our green goals,” he added.

Both sides are also working on implementing India’s UPI (Unified Payments Interface) in Brazil, with India offering to share its successful digital infrastructure experiences. “We will be happy to share India’s successful experience in areas like digital public infrastructure and space with Brazil,” Modi said. “Our cooperation in artificial intelligence and supercomputers is growing. This is proof of our common thinking of inclusive development and human-centric innovation,” he added.

Boosting Defence and Agricultural Partnerships

Modi noted that growing collaboration in defence signifies “deep mutual trust” and indicated continued efforts to link the two nations’ defence industries. “We will continue our efforts to connect our defence industries,” he said.

In agriculture, both countries aim to enhance cooperation through joint research and food processing initiatives, alongside promoting Ayurveda and traditional medicine in Brazil. “We are also increasing our win-win cooperation in the field of health,” Modi said.

Focus on People-to-People Ties

To deepen cultural and educational exchanges, India aims to facilitate easier travel and interaction for tourists, students, businesspersons, and sportspersons. Modi vividly remarked, “We want India-Brazil relations to be as colourful as carnival, as passionate as football, and as connecting hearts as samba.” “Without long lines at the visa counter! In this spirit, we will make efforts to facilitate people-to-people contacts between the two countries,” he added.

Global South and Geopolitical Unity

Modi emphasised the moral responsibility of India and Brazil as large democratic nations to represent the Global South. Both leaders echoed the need for resolving global disputes through dialogue and diplomacy.

In a social media post following the meeting, Modi described the discussions as “fruitful” and highlighted Brazilian President Lula’s longstanding passion for India-Brazil friendship, noting the immense scope to deepen and diversify trade.  “Our talks included ways to deepen trade ties and also diversify bilateral trade. We both agree that there is immense scope for such linkages to thrive in the coming times,” he said.

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