By Phapano Phasha and Zakhele Madela
VERY recently (November 19, 2024), India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Brazilian President Lula to reaffirm cooperation in energy, biofuels, and defence.
India, as one of the BRICS Plus founders, is cementing itself as a nation that puts it citizens first when it comes to energy policy and its implementation.
The country is counted among the top five nations in the world that have adopted a pragmatic approach in addressing climate change by ensuring that it does not adopt a blanket to discriminate against energy technologies that create jobs and industry.
BRICS’s third-largest economy meeting the second-largest economy:
On November 19 in Rio de Janeiro, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the G20 Summit that was held in Rio de Janeiro to reaffirm economic ties where they both committed to strengthening bilateral trade in energy, biofuels, and defence between the two nations. India leads in energy and defence. Brazil leads in biofuels.
The discussions between the two BRICS leaders were not only limited to energy, biofuels, and defence, but they also covered a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, automobiles, and more, with a focus on improving cooperation between the two nations.
India’s Modi is a hands-on man. To reaffirm his commitment to drive the economy of his nation to new heights, he recently shared a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that capped it all.
The post read as follows: “Held talks with President Lula during the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Complimented him on various efforts of Brazil during their G20 Presidency. We took stock of the full range of bilateral ties between our nations and reaffirmed our commitment to improving cooperation in sectors like energy, biofuels, defence, agriculture and more.”
With this statement coming from a man that has delivered so many great results for India, we can rest assured that the bilateral trade agreement between India and Brazil on cooperation in energy, biofuels, defence, automobiles and agriculture will not just end as a talk, but it will be followed right through to implementation.
Addressing social injustices between India and Brazil through a bilateral trade agreement:
Both India and Brazil agreed that the bilateral trade agreement will be meaningless if it failed to address hunger and poverty. To this end: India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal who had accompanied Modi stated that Modi assured India’s support to Brazil's initiative of global alliance against hunger and poverty.
Minister Jaiswal stated on his X account: “India-Brazil – Building ties with an important Global South partner on the sidelines of the #G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. He thanked President Lula for successfully hosting the #G20 Summit.”
He assured and emphasised that Modi assured India’s full support to Brazil’s initiative of the “Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty”. The main discussions focused on exploring opportunities for greater cooperation in renewable energy, biofuels, defence, agriculture, healthcare, and digital technology.
Meeting of Minds at the G20 Summit: India’s Modi did not rob his nation by not discussing few areas of cooperation on bilateral trade with key nations that participated. On the first day of the G20 Summit, Modi's schedule was quite packed. He held bilateral meetings with leaders from the UK, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Indonesia.
India and Brazil Bilateral Trade Agreement Inclusive of BRICS+ Nations and Other Countries:
India’s Modi did not just limit the crucial bilateral meetings and several interactions between India and Brazil. But he shared details of his discussions that the bilateral trade agreements should extend to engagements with global leaders including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
On meeting the European Commission President, Modi said: “India will keep working closely with the EU for global good.”
Meeting with the Global Superpowers
On Meeting with the UK: On the sidelines of the summit, Modi held an important meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Describing the meeting as “extremely productive”, Modi emphasised the significance of India’s Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the UK.
He further stated that India is eager to work closely with the UK in areas such as technology, green energy, security, innovation, and technology in the coming years, including the most important imperative of strengthening trade on cultural linkages.
On Meeting with France: India’s Modi met with French President Emmanuel Macron to congratulate each other on the successful hosting of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics earlier this year.
Their bilateral trade discussions centred around strengthening cooperation in space, energy, artificial intelligence (AI), and other future-oriented sectors. The two nations talked about how India and France will keep working closely in sectors like space, energy, AI, and other such futuristic areas. Enhancement of the people-to-people linkages between the two countries also featured as an important topic.
On Meeting with Norway: On meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, India’s Modi discussed ways to improve investment linkages, particularly in renewable energy, green hydrogen, and the blue economy.
According to Modi, this meeting was “excellent” because it highlighted how both nations could enhance cooperation in innovation and research. He (Modi) emphasised how India’s “Arctic Policy” would lead to further cementation of India-Norway already existing bilateral relations.
On Meeting with Indonesia: On meeting with Indonesia’s newly elected President of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral ties in the framework of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This was the first meeting of the two leaders.
They discussed cooperation in the fields of trade and investment, defence and security, connectivity, tourism, health, and people-to-people ties. Both leaders noted that India and Indonesia are commemorating 75 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations and called for celebrating the occasion in a befitting manner.
The leaders also exchanged views on global and regional issues. Discussing their close collaboration within the G20, they called for giving primacy to the concerns of the Global South. They also reviewed ongoing cooperation in multilateral and multilateral arenas, including ASEAN.
On Meeting with Italy: India’s Modi last talks concluded with meeting the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Their discussions focused on strengthening sectors in defence, security, trade, and technology ties. Modi underscored the importance of the already existing India-Italy relationship by saying that: “India-Italy friendship can greatly contribute to a better planet.”
It is quite clear that India remains the country to watch not only in the reorganised emerging BRICS plus bloc of countries, but very much as a global economic player that is likely to give countries in the Global South a run for their money.
* Phapano Phasha is chairperson of the Centre for Alternative Political and Economic Thought, with a focus on BRICS Plus countries and the global south. Zakhele Madela is an Energy Industry Analyst with 26 years of experience. He holds a degree in engineering. He is a Chairman of the Economic Intervention Forum of South Africa (EIFSA).