President Lula’s Press Statement during the State Visit to India

Your Excellency, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Narendra Modi,

Dear ministers of India, dear ministers of Brazil,

My dear friend Modi, 

It is a joy to return to this great country for the sixth time.

The meeting between India and Brazil is a gathering of superlatives.

We are not merely the two largest democracies of the Global South.

This is a meeting between the world’s pharmacy and the world’s breadbasket.

Between a digital superpower and a renewable energy superpower.

We are both megadiverse nations and hubs of cultural industry.

We are both defenders of multilateralism and peace.

Prime Minister Modi’s invitation for this State Visit and to participate in the Summit on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence reflects the harmony and mutual trust that unite us.

A few months ago, in July 2025, I had the honor of welcoming my friend Modi in Brasília. His visit marked a watershed moment.

On that occasion, we restructured our bilateral cooperation agenda around five pillars:

(i) Defense and Security;

(ii) Food and Nutritional Security;

(iii) Energy Transition and Climate Change;

(iv) Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies;

(v) Industrial Partnerships in Strategic Areas.

Today, in New Delhi, in the year in which we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Brazil–India Strategic Partnership, we move from commitment to action.

Preparation for this visit included the presence of my Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, and a business delegation last year. It also included the early arrival of several ministers and three hundred business leaders this week.

We have signed several agreements that give concrete expression to our cooperation in these areas.

India’s remarkable progress in cutting-edge sectors such as information technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and space exploration creates significant opportunities for cooperation with Brazil.

The Digital Partnership for the Future with India, the first of its kind for Brazil, reflects our commitment to placing technology at the service of inclusive development.

Expanding investment and cooperation in renewable energy and critical minerals lies at the heart of the landmark agreement we signed today.

Within the framework of the Global Biofuels Alliance, our countries are ensuring that this technology receives its rightful place on the global climate and energy agenda.

The establishment of synergies between our health industrial complexes is also central to bilateral cooperation.

India and Brazil have worked side by side for decades in defense of equitable access to medicines, particularly generics, and of health sovereignty within the World Health Organization.

During this visit, Fiocruz signed agreements for research and local production of strategic inputs, including tuberculosis vaccines, oncology drugs, immunosuppressants, and treatments for neglected and rare diseases.

There is also significant potential for collaboration in smart hospitals, such as the facility Minister Padilha visited in Bangalore two days ago.

In defense, our aeronautical industry continues to strengthen its presence in India, as demonstrated by the opening of Embraer’s office in New Delhi.

The trilateral agreement between Mazagon Dock and the Indian and Brazilian Navies will integrate maintenance activities for Scorpène-class submarines and other military vessels.

All these efforts will contribute to achieving the goal Prime Minister Modi and I agreed upon last year: increasing trade to USD 20 billion by 2030.

In 2025, bilateral trade surpassed USD 15 billion for the first time, a 25 percent increase compared to 2024.

We are advancing so rapidly that we should revisit our target and aim for USD 30 billion in trade.

The agreement extending tourism and business visas from five to ten years is an important step toward facilitating greater mobility between our countries.

Likewise, the Brazil–India Economic Forum will bring together around 600 representatives from the private sectors of both nations to explore new business opportunities.

In response to commercial unilateralism, both MERCOSUR and India have recently concluded free trade agreements with the European Union.

It is, therefore, only natural that MERCOSUR and India work toward significantly expanding the Preferential Trade Agreement that already binds us.

My friends,

A turbulent global context requires our countries to deepen strategic dialogue.

I received the G20 presidency from Prime Minister Modi in 2024.

This year, India received from Brazil the presidency of BRICS.

This rotation of presidencies between our countries greatly benefits the interests of the Global South.

India and Brazil are essential voices in the United Nations, the WTO, and the G20.

We are partners in building multilateral governance that is more just, peaceful, and grounded in international law.

Prime Minister Modi and I held extensive discussions on perseverance along the path of peace. There can be no sustainable and equitable development in a world engulfed by conflict.

As Prime Minister Modi stated at the BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, “it is impossible to run twenty-first-century software on twentieth-century typewriters.”

We reaffirm our commitment to reforming the United Nations, particularly the Security Council, so that it better represents the interests of the Global South and includes Brazil and India as natural candidates.

More than twenty years ago, Brazil, India, Germany, and Japan formed the G4 to advocate for the expansion of the Security Council. That reform has yet to materialize, but it remains necessary and inevitable.

The United Nations must be more representative and better equipped to address the conflicts that afflict the world today. Without reform, it cannot fully fulfill its mandate.

Expanding both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership is essential to confer legitimacy and effectiveness upon global governance in the face of today’s challenges.

We support efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

It is equally urgent to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Brazil strongly condemned the attacks in Kashmir.

Terrorism is not associated with any religion or nationality. Nor can it be conflated with public security challenges faced by many countries.

These are distinct phenomena and must not serve as a pretext for actions outside the bounds of international law.

I reaffirmed to Prime Minister Modi Brazil’s commitment to maintaining South America as a zone of peace.

After all, the only wars humanity must wage are those against hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation.

This State Visit marks a new chapter in the long journey of cooperation between Brazil and India.

My dear friend Modi,

Allow me to conclude by saying that Brazil looks to India with profound hope. We see in India a country with many similarities to our own. Despite differences in population size, many of our challenges are shared, and our scientific and technological capacities are comparable.

By working together, we will strengthen Brazil–India relations, reinforce our ties with MERCOSUR, and empower the Global South, ensuring that we never again enter a new Cold War between major powers.

Thank you very much.