With Brazil assuming leadership roles in regional and global platforms, how does it view India’s aspiration for a permanent seat in the UNSC?

We traditionally support each other’s aspirations to have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. This is a historical coordination between the two countries; it’s mutual support, always.

Cultural exchanges have been an important pillar of our bilateral ties. How is the Brazilian Embassy in Delhi promoting Brazilian culture, language, people to people contacts, etc?

We have been promoting cultural events, dance, etc. Brazilian dance groups and theatre groups have come to India. Not in the numbers we would like because it costs, but we have had some Brazilian musical groups, theatre groups performing in India and we are promoting Brazilian food, Brazilian gastronomy. Of course we need to do more. We think that with more and more business coming to India, there will be more sponsorship of cultural events because these big cultural events need sponsors.

Tourism is an important sector but it is underexplored between the two countries. What steps can be taken to encourage greater travel and tourism, particularly among students, professionals and cultural enthusiasts?

The two countries are far away and we don’t have direct air connectivity. Normally a trip from India to Brazil takes over 20 hours. Besides, it’s expensive. These are stumbling blocks; we should have shorter connections and less expensive connectivity. We are talking to Indian airline companies regarding this because there is enormous potential and interest from Indians to visit Brazil.

India has enormous tourism potential, needless to say. It’s an old civilization and has fantastic things to offer. There are so many UNESCO sites. So the issue is in order to attract Brazilian tourists, better air connectivity is essential.

In what ways is the Brazilian embassy working to boost academic and educational exchanges with Indian institutions? Are there any recent MoUs or partnerships we should know about?

Cooperation is thriving in science, technology and innovation. A number of missions from our Ministry of Science and Technology have visited and also from our state institutions. Brazil is a federation of states. So apart from federal level missions, state level missions are also looking for cooperation in artificial intelligence, supercomputers, digital governance, etc. Some MoUs on digital technology innovations have been signed. In the field of agriculture, negotiations are going on with the ICAR. MoUs are being discussed on climate resilient seeds, milk productivity, nanofertilisers, etc. The private sector is propelling more business relations.

What message would you like to give to readers of the India Empire about Brazil’s vision for its relationship with India?

India and Brazil have been strategic partners for almost 20 years now. I think this partnership is acquiring more tangible content in terms of economic complementarities and technological complementarities. It is a strategic partnership between two countries that are cooperating in multilateral fora such as climate change, UN Security Council and the World Trade Organization, based on common values and common perceptions. Based on the traditional partnership and mutual trust that has been built over the years, we are now expanding the partnership to include tangible dimensions, which are economic dimension and technological. We are really optimistic about this because as I mentioned, in less than two years I have received 73 missions from Brazil and around 40 plus missions from India to Brazil.

We are trusted partners in a world where geopolitics has a heavy influence on trade and investment. But, Brazil and India have no political liability issues. We have a partnership that is always on the positive side. All these businesses flocking to India and vice versa, there are no underlying concerns, worries. Perhaps 20 years ago, this was not so. But we worked together to make it happen.