India reassures Brazil after minister's reported remarks

New Delhi, Sep 8 (UNI) India has assured Brazil that it attached great importance to its relations with that country as well as to the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) trilateral initiative.

This was done after Brazil expressed surprise and displeasure over remarks reportedly made by Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh in an interview to a Brazilian newspaper.

The remarks came ahead of Prime Minister's visit to Brazil next week for bilateral talks and the first IBSA Summit in Brasilia.

Media reports today said Mr Ramesh had ridiculed the idea of IBSA and also questioned bilateral economic cooperation. He reportedly said that the two countries were competing in the manufacturing sector and had contrary interests in agriculture.

Answering queries on this from reporters today, Mr Saran said he was not aware of what Mr Ramesh had exactly said.

But he pointed out that IBSA was only three years old but had already achieved a considerable degree of progress, especially in promotion of trade and investment.

He said the three countries had proven areas of complementarities and new areas would be identified in due course.

Asked if Brazil had shown its displeasure over Mr Ramesh's remarks, Mr Saran said, "A certain amount of interest was expressed over the reports about the remarks." "We have assured Brazil that we attach great value to our relations with it and to IBSA," he added.

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