Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday greeted President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. This crucial meeting is a stepping stone to strengthen bilateral relations to strengthen cooperation in critical minerals, trade and defense, including an agreement on the assembly of E175 aircraft.
Lula da Silva, who is on a state visit to India, received a guard of honor at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Brazilian President also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
PM Modi-Lula meeting
Later, PM Modi met the Brazilian President at Hyderabad House to enhance cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths. On Wednesday, he arrived with around 14 ministers and a high-profile delegation of top CEOs of Brazilian companies to attend the India AI Impact Summit 2026 held at the Bharat Mandapam from February 16 to 20.
To strengthen economic and trade ties between the two nations, the ministers are scheduled to meet their Indian counterparts. The CEOs are to attend a Business Forum organized as part of the visit.
This meeting is important as the two sides will discuss India-Brazil trade along with a review of regional and global issues. With Brazil holding the world’s second-largest reserves of critical minerals, the meeting is significant and comes at a time when China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth production. According to an AFP report, these minerals are used in modern technologies such as electric vehicles, solar panels, smartphones, jet engines and cruise missiles.
The Brazilian President inaugurated the first office of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) in New Delhi on Friday. In an interview with X, President Lula said it would promote Brazilian products and services abroad. The move aims to attract foreign investment in strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy.
Sharing the details, he wrote, “Brazil and India are two of the largest countries in the Global South. We had a trade flow of USD 15.2 billion in 2025 with a lot of room for growth.”
The visit comes after Prime Minister Modi’s historic July 2025 visit to the Brazilian capital Brasilia, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in over 50 years. This is the second visit of the Brazilian president to India in the last 3 years, after the G20 summit held in Delhi in 2023.
Notably, India is the tenth largest market for Brazilian exports, with bilateral trade of US$15 billion in 2025, AFP reported.