On Sunday, Brazil and India decided to cooperate in order to expand the India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) to further promote economic ties. An official statement said.
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay make up the Latin American commercial bloc known as Mercosur. During their meeting here on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva brought up the subject.
“Expressing satisfaction over the growing trade between India and Mercosur, both leaders agreed to work together for the expansion of India-Mercosur PTA during Brazil’s Mercosur Presidency, to leverage the full potential of this economic partnership,” a joint statement issued after the meeting said.
The two countries also welcomed the establishment of the India-Brazil Business Forum as a dedicated platform for private-sector collaboration.
“The leaders noted with satisfaction the conclusion of domestic procedures for the entry into force of the India-Brazil Social Security Agreement,” it added.
India-Mercosur preferential trade agreement (PTA) came into effect on June 1, 2009.
Such agreements allow for the reduction or elimination of customs taxes between two nations on a specific list of items. The agreement would be expanded to cover more commodities and set standards to encourage service commerce and increase investment.
This PTA has limited coverage and contains only 450 tariff lines or products.
India’s exports to Latin America have increased to USD 17.7 billion in 2022-23 compared to USD 15 billion in 2021-22. Imports, on the other hand, rose to USD 22 billion in the last fiscal against USD 21.74 billion in 2021-22. The bilateral trade between India and Brazil has increased to USD 16.6 billion in 2022-23 from USD 12.2 billion in 2021-22.