IBSA Summit to remove hurdles in cooperation

Brasilia, Sep 13: The first summit of the India-Brazil- South Africa (IBSA) trilateral initiative, conceived three years ago as a unique exercise in transnational diplomacy, here today will aim at removing structural bottlenecks in the path of closer cooperation among the three countries.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be joined at the summit by Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.

Their discussions and decisions are expected to help IBSA, still in an embryonic stage, to take off and lead to a new surge in cooperation among developing countries on global political and economic issues of concern to them.

The grouping is considered in many ways to be unique as it brings together the largest democracies of three continents--Asia, Latin America and Africa.

After the Brasilia Declaration of June 6, 2003, launching the initiative, some fora have been envisaged to boost the relations among them.

These include the Trilateral Commission with Foreign Ministers, Focal Points Meetings and an IBSA funding facility.

Three meetings of the Trilateral Commission have been held so far and the next one is slated to be hosted by India early next year. Six Focal Points meetings have also been held as yet.

As part of IBSA, the three countries are aiming, in particular, at closer cooperation in areas like agriculture, energy, defence, culture, education, health, information technology, science and technology, social development, trade and investment, transport and tourism.

In the short term, the three countries are hoping to see an increase in intra-IBSA trade. They are also hoping it will help them achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

In a long-term goal, IBSA countries are hoping to play a major role on the world stage, commensurate with their true potential, on global issues, individually and collectively.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim had pointed out earlier this year that the G-20 grouping in the WTO was a direct outcome of IBSA, and could not have come into being without it.

Indian officials say the benefits in trade due to such cooperation are already becoming visible. India's trade with South Africa has incresed from 2.4 billion dollars in 2003-04 to 4 billion dollars in 2005-06.

The growth has been even more dramatic in the case of Brazil, with the figure going up from 589.14 million dollars to 2.5 billion dollars over the same period. Similarly, Brazil's trade with South Africa has nearly doubled from 754 million dollars in 2003 to 1.5 billion dollars last year. Overall, intra-IBSA trade has doubled in this period.

India is hoping that the implementation of the existing India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Area agreement and its possible widening, and similar initiatives to cover India-Merocsur and the south African Customs Union (SACU) would act as a quantum multiplier in trade activities.

IBSA members are also looking at increasing investments in each other's countries. Many investments have already been made and more are on the anvil.

To remove the hurdles in such cooperation, the IBSA countries will sign five trilateral documents tomorrow to facilitate closer interaction in areas like maritime transport, agriculture, biofuels, information society and customs.

They are also looking at widening the areas of cooperation to include science and technology, art and culture and social issues, among others.

The meeting will also look at a more active role for IBSA in South-South cooperation, pooling of their vast resources and harmonisation of their positions in international fora.

Alongside the meeting, there will be an IBSA CEOs' Summit here to promote greater interaction among the private sectors of the three countries.

Among the specific topics that will come up at the summit, international terrorism will be a major theme.

Both Brazil and South Africa had condemned the July 11 serial blasts in Mumbai which had claimed over 180 lives and are conscious of the need for a global effort to fight the evil.

The leaders of the three countries will also discuss human rights, and the situation in West Asia, particularly Lebanon.

On the WTO talks, the three countries are of the view that development must be at the centre of negotiations to create a truly multi-lateral, non-discriminatory and rule-based system.

The peaceful uses of nuclear energy will be another important issue that will come up at the summit.

Brazil is the current head of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and India is counting on it to help adjust NSG guidelines to enable member-countries to cooperate with it in the area of civil nuclear energy.

The discussions will also focus on disarmament so that the issue is brought back on the global agenda.

Dr Singh, who arrived here on Monday, held bilateral talks with Brazilian President Lula yesterday.

He will fly to Havana tomorrow to attend the 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit on September 15-16.

He will leave Havana on September 17 and will fly back on the night of September 18 after an overnight halt in Frankfurt.

UNI