India and Brazil Monday decided to step up bilateral trade four-fold to 10 billion US dollar (55 milliarder DKR) by 2010 even as the Latin American nations President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asserted a new world economic order cannot be negotiated without taking on board the two nations.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lula together witnessed the signing of seven bilateral agreements, including one calling for an Indian satellite to transmit data to Brazilian ground stations.
Also among them was a letter of intent for the creation of a bilateral business forum, whose Indian co-president will be Ratan Tata, head of the giant Tata Group which already has a foothold in Brazil. Indias Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath encouraged business people to help develop the two big countries complementary relationship.
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.
Brazil further offered to help India produce more ethanol and develop technology for automobiles that run on the alternative fuel. Brazil is a leading producer of ethanol, which is mostly produced from sugarcane.
Indias rapid economic growth has led to a surge in the countrys energy demand, much of which is met by importing fossil fuels (oil, coal).
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
