India, Brazil seek to build strategic relationship
Source: Reuters
(Recasts with joint declaration, changes byline) By Y.P. Rajesh NEW DELHI, June 4 (Reuters) - India and Brazil, two of the world's emerging market giants, sought on Monday to forge a strategic relationship and enhance their role as strong voices of the developing world. The two fast-growing economies, which have presented a united stance at global trade talks, said there was an urgent need to successfully end the Doha Round of negotiations and eliminate distortions and subsidies in farm trade. They said global warming was caused by unsustainable production and development patterns of rich nations and could not be fought by forcing developing countries to cut emissions as it would hurt their growth and cause them to remain poor. Climate change is a key issue on the agenda of the Group of Eight rich nations summit in Germany this week and the leaders of India and Brazil, both of whom are attending, said they had a "unity of approach" ahead of the meeting. The announcements came at the end of talks between Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "The visit by the president of Brazil ... is a reflection of the mutual commitment to develop and diversify bilateral relations in a comprehensive manner," the declaration said. "It is also a reflection of the strength of the growing strategic partnership between the two countries." India and Brazil have built a strong relationship in recent years based on common positions on issues such as global trade talks and expansion of the U.N. Security Council. Lula, who began a three-day visit to India on Sunday, his second in a little over three years, earlier said he wanted to raise those ties to a higher level by boosting economic links. Trade and investment are high on the agenda of his trip and his delegation includes some 100 businessmen. Trade between India and Brazil has surged and touched $2.4 billion in 2006. They have also increased investments in each others' economies. The two countries aim to quadruple trade to $10 billion by 2010 and Lula said this goal could be achieved. But ahead of the visit, Brazilian officials had complained about New Delhi's hesitation to further open its markets to farm imports and pointed at a fall in Brazilian exports to India by 15 percent to $937 million last year. The joint declaration sought to address this, saying the two sides would help participation in each other's economies "within the parameters of their national laws, rules and regulations". (Additional reporting by Surojit Gupta)
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