New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held a bilateral meeting with Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi and emphasized that their bilateral ties have flourished based on common values and shared objectives, including the pursuit of peace, cooperation, and sustainable development.
Expressing disappointment at the paralysis created at the Inter-Governmental Negotiations on UN Security Council reform, India and Brazil agreed to conduct regular bilateral meetings to push for a reformed Council.
"They agreed that time has come to move towards a result-oriented process that aims to achieve concrete outcomes in a fixed time frame," a joint statement from the two nations said. "They reiterated their mutual support for their countries’ permanent membership in an expanded UNSC."
Both leaders also reaffirmed their "commitment to bolstering the Brazil-India Strategic Partnership and to sustaining their distinctive roles in global affairs. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved under various institutional dialogue mechanisms."
On energy transition, India and Brazil "acknowledged the urgency of a fair and equitable energy transition. They noted the vital role of biofuels and flex-fuel vehicles in decarbonizing the transport sector, especially in developing nations. They commended bilateral initiatives in bioenergy, involving both governmental and private sectors, and celebrated the establishment during India's G20 presidency of the Global Biofuels Alliance, of which both countries are founding members."
Both leaders also took note of the consequences of climate change and recognized that climate change represents one of the greatest challenges of our time. "The two countries commit to broadening, deepening and diversifying their bilateral cooperation on climate, as well as their joint efforts towards a strengthened global governance under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), its Kyoto Protocol and its Paris Agreement."
They also pledged to work together to ensure that the UNFCCC multilateral process from COP28 to COP30 paves the way for a course-correction on climate while uniting the international community around the ultimate objective of the Convention and the goals of its Paris Agreement, in the light of equity and the best available science, taking into consideration the gravity and sense of urgency emanated from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
"They reiterated their determination to enhance the multilateral response to climate change in a way that also tackle inequalities within and among countries, including by working closer together within the Group of 77 and China and the BASIC Group of countries," according to the joint statement.
Both leaders welcomed the increased defence cooperation between India and Brazil including participation in military exercises, exchange of high-level defence delegations, and substantive industry presence in each other's defence expositions.
Regarding the recent BRICS Summit in South Africa, "both leaders acknowledged its positive outcomes, particularly the renewed and strengthened support for the reform of the United Nations Security Council and the invitations extended to six countries to become full members of BRICS."
While Indonesia held the G20 presidency last year, Brazil will hold the presidency after India.