In the last decade, India’s trade with Brazil has jumped from $800 million to over $10 billion. This is a quarter of our entire trade volume with all of Latin America. However, India’s trade with the region comprises just 1% of the total, compared with China’s 11%. Can India utilise its growing economic and political relationship with Brazil as the gateway to other Latin American countries? Both countries face the same problems — the need for public sector reform, delivering better governance, and balancing growth with environmental concerns, for instance. They are also both members of the BRICS bloc, which is growing in global importance. What can the countries learn from each other? How can they cooperate better within and outside the BRICS forum to further both their interests? Together, how can they influence global economics and politics?
On September 3, Gateway House hosted Consul General Maria Teresa Mesquita Pessoa, Consulate General of Brazil in Mumbai, in conversation with Ambassador R. Viswanathan, Distinguished Fellow, Latin America Studies, Gateway House, to discuss ‘India-Brazil: Opportunities & Challenges.’
Maria Teresa Mesquita Pessôa is the Consul General of Brazil in Mumbai. Prior to this, she was Minister Plenipotentiary in the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations in New York. She has also served as Brazil’s Chief Negotiator on Oceans and Law of the Sea at the United Nations (2007-2012), and at the Rio+20 Summit (June 2012). She has also served in Brazilian missions in Côte d’Ivoire, Spain, Indonesia, the U.S., Canada and India. She graduated in Journalism and Publishing from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1972 and holds a Masters Degree from Institute Rio Branco.
R. Viswanathan is the former Indian Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. He has also served as the Indian Ambassador to Venezuela and as the first Indian Consul General in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was also the head of the Latin America and the Caribbean division, as well as the region’s Investment and Trade Promotion division at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. A chemistry lecturer by profession, he has specialised in Latin America since 1996 and has been a regular contributor to newspapers and business journals, besides delivering lectures on the subject at think tanks and universities across the world. He is also Distinguished Fellow, Latin America Studies, Gateway House.
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