Brasilia, April 16 (Inditop.com) India and Brazil, Latin America´s largest economy, have backed each other for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC) and agreed to expand their cooperation in areas ranging from technology, civilian nuclear energy to counter-terrorism.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held wide-raging talks with Brazilian President Lula da Silva Thursday for over half an hour.
The two met on the sidelines of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) and Brazil-Russia-India-China summits. Manmohan Singh last visited Brazil in 2006 to participate in the first IBSA summit.
The two countries espoused UN reforms and backed greater participation of developing countries in the decision-making processes within multilateral financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
“They reaffirmed their commitment for the reform of the UN, particularly of the Security Council, including through its expansion in both permanent and non-permanent membership, with a view to improving its efficiency, representativeness, and legitimacy needed to meet the challenges faced by the international community today,” said a joint statement at the end of the talks.
“The two leaders reiterated their support to each other in their quest for permanent membership in an expanded UNSC,” the statement said.
President Lula expressed appreciation for India’s support for the election of Brazil as a non-permanent member of UNSC for 2010-11.
Lula reiterated the support of Brazil to India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat of the UNSC for 2011-12.
India and Brazil, along with Japan and Germany, are four countries seeking global support for their claim for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
Greater cooperation in cutting-edge areas of technology, including science and technology, nuclear energy, space and defence also figured prominently in the discussions.
The two countries, whose bilateral trade reached $5.6 billion in 2009, decided to scale up their efforts to achieve the target of $10 billion bilateral trade by the end of this year.
The two leaders decided to cooperate to oppose terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reaffirmed their commitment for an early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on international terrorism.
