Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants to deepen trade ties with India, the world’s most populous nation. The question as he hosts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Brasilia on Tuesday is how to go about it.
Despite both nations being members of the BRICS grouping of emerging-market economies and natural allies in the fields of poverty reduction and biofuel production, India ranks well down the list of Brazil’s trading partners. Total commerce is dwarfed by that with China, the U.S., neighboring Argentina and faraway Germany.
It’s a mismatch that the president known as Lula acknowledged last week, when he joked that he’d only just learned that Modi, a devout Hindu, didn’t eat meat. Brazil is the world’s No. 1 beef exporter.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.