The Hindu : Business : Brazil emerges India's largest Latin American trade partner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 05, 2007
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Brazil emerges India's largest Latin American trade partner

Staff Reporter

— PHOTO: R. V. MOORTHY

A BIG PUSH: Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath (right), with Miguel Joao Jorge Filho, Brazilian Minister for Development Industry and Foreign Trade, at a business meeting in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: The Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, on Monday said Brazil has emerged as India's largest trading partner in Latin America with bilateral trade crossing the record $2 billion mark in 2006.

The two-way trade between India and Brazil has registered a quantum increase — from $488 million in 2000 to $2.4 billion in 2006 — and now both the governments have set a bilateral trade target of $10 billion by 2010, Mr. Kamal Nath said while addressing a business seminar on India and Brazil.

Referring to the partnership between India and MERCOSUR, a Regional Trade Agreement (RTA) between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and Paraguay, Mr. Kamal Nath said following the conclusion of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in March 2005, India and MERCOSUR had agreed to give tariff concessions.

The PTA will come into force as soon as it is ratified by the legislatures of Brazil and Argentina.

Meanwhile, the process of expansion of the coverage of the PTA has also been initiated in persuasion of the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) Declaration made by the Heads of India, Brazil and South Africa on September 13, 2006.

$10b two-way trade

"I hope the operation of PTA will help achieve the target of $10 billion two-way trade in the years to come. A trilateral arrangement between India, MERCOSUR and SACU (South Africa Customs Union) is also being planned to widen the scope of South-South cooperation," the Minister said.

"Indian investments in Brazil have also increased in recent years, particularly in the field of information technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals," he said.

The Minister held a separate bilateral meeting with Brazilian Minister for Development Industry and Foreign Trade Miguel Joao Jorge Filho where both the Ministers underlined the vast scope for increasing bilateral trade and investment given the huge opportunities that the two countries offer to each other. He also had a separate interaction with the Brazilian business delegation.

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