NSA Doval meets Special Advisor to Brazilian Prez, discuss trade, critical minerals

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met the Special Advisor to the Brazilian president, Celso Luis Nunes Amorim, to discuss strenghthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

Amorim, accompanied by a delegation of senior officials, is on a visit to New Delhi ahead of a planned trip to India by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Doval and Amorim held talks under the framework of the India-Brazil Strategic Dialogue.

“The dialogue was an opportunity to follow up on the issues identified under the five pillars of cooperation during the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Brazil in July,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

The two officials talked about boosting cooperation in areas such as defence and security, energy, rare earths and critical minerals and health and pharmaceuticals. They also discussed cooperation in multilateral forums such as BRICS, India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA), and the forthcoming COP-30 to be hosted by Brazil in November.

“Both sides agreed to carry forward the work to implement the vision laid down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Lula da Silva,” the MEA said.

India-Brazil ties

New Delhi is preparing for Lula’s visit, which is slated to happen early next year. Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin will come to the capital to oversee the preparations of Lula’s arrival.

Both countries are currently grappling with steep U.S. tariffs and are seeking to boost bilateral trade to mitigate the impact. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the issue with President Lula during their bilateral summit in Brasília on July 9.

Lula followed up with another conversation with Modi on August 7, just hours after the White House announced a 50 per cent tariff on both nations. He later convened a virtual BRICS leaders’ meeting on the global economic situation, which was attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

With inputs from agencies