India-Brazil Deal: A historic agreement has been signed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in New Delhi. In this important meeting, both the countries have made a big partnership regarding critical minerals and rare earth elements. This step is being considered as a masterstroke towards ending China’s dominance in the global market.
Actually, Brazil is the country with the second largest critical mineral reserves in the world. These minerals are directly used in the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles, solar panels and modern defense equipment. With this new agreement, India will get direct supply of these essential minerals. This will strengthen our domestic supply chain and we will see a huge increase in production capacity.
Till now the whole world has been largely dependent on China for these rare minerals. India has now turned to new suppliers to reduce this dependence. India’s development journey will gain a lot of momentum with the support of Brazil in the field of technology transfer, discovery of new mines and research in rare earth elements.
What are the benefits for small industries?
During this five-day visit, a special Memorandum of Understanding has also been signed regarding Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). This will have a direct impact on small businessmen. They will get a direct platform to understand Brazilian markets, policies and technologies. With easy access to green finance, Indian products will be able to make a strong mark at the global level.
Along with this, Brazil has announced a big relief for Indian passport holders. Now Brazil’s business visa for Indians has been extended for ten years. With this decision, Indians doing business there will be freed from the hassle of renewing their visas again and again. Trade and economic relations between the two countries will become deeper and simpler.
An important decision has been taken to increase mutual cooperation in the postal sector also. This will ease the way of working between the official representatives and experts of the two countries. There will be an increase in transactions of e-commerce and financial services, due to which common consumers will be able to easily get better international level services and safe delivery options.
There will be a new dawn in health, education and digital revolution
Keeping future technology in mind, digital partnership has also been agreed upon. Under this, there will be joint work in Bharat Stack Framework, High Performance Computing, Quantum Tech and Blockchain technology.
Brazil has been given access to India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) in the health sector. People associated with this field will directly benefit from the recognition of Indian Ayurveda and Homeopathy there. Apart from this, the collaboration between the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization and the Brazilian Health Agency will make the quality and regulatory framework of medicines more transparent and stronger.
Big steps have also been taken in the fields of education and media production. A direct agreement has been signed between the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Also, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute will now work in collaboration with Sao Paulo University. This will provide a golden opportunity to students and teachers to visit foreign institutions and work on joint projects.
Big target of taking trade beyond 20 billion dollars
Prime Minister Modi has made it clear that India and Brazil are fully committed to taking their mutual trade beyond $20 billion in the coming five years. Special emphasis has also been laid on ensuring cooperation in the mining sector for the steel supply chain. With this, India’s domestic steel industries will be able to get their raw materials safely and continuously. This partnership will be taken further in modern sectors like energy, agriculture, artificial intelligence and semiconductor.