India, Brazil issue Red Fort Declaration 2007

New Delhi, June 5: India and Brazil today issued a 23-point Red Fort Declaration 2007, reaffirming their resolve to deepen their ties in diverse fields, including defence, space and oil sectors, and work together at multilateral fora such as the UN and WTO.

The India-Brazil Red Fort Declaration 2007 was released after visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's day-long engagements with President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders and captains of Indian industry.

The declaration said the visit of Mr Lula, accompanied by over 100 Ministers, CEOs and top officials, had provided a decisive impetus to the further development of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

India and Brazil also signed seven agreements and MOUs for cooperation in as many fields. Both parties noted that progress had been made in the partnership between Petrobras and Indian companies to explore, produce and trade oil, gas and derivatives in Brazil, India and elsewhere.

They confirmed the understanding that both Governments would continue to encourage further cooperation between companies of the oil and gas sector in both countries.

The declaration noted that Brazil and India have had a long tradition of fruitful cooperation in regional and multilateral fora including the United Nations, WTO and the UNFCCC. This cooperation was a reflection of their common world view and common socio-economic requirements.

Both sides stressed the need to promote the democratisation of the structures of global governance by increasing the participation of developing countries in their decision-making bodies.

In that regard, they reiterated their steadfast commitment to reforming and expanding the UN Security Council, with the inclusion especially of countries from all regions of the developing world as permanent members, in order to render it more democratic, legitimate and representative.

The two countries welcomed the new momentum on the debate on Security Council reform and expressed their readiness to participate in negotiations, together with the other G-4 partners, with a view to reaching a decision on this long-standing issue at the earliest.

They reaffirmed their understanding that no reform of the United Nations will be complete without reform of the Security Council.

They reiterated their support for each other's permanent membership in an expanded UNSC.

The visit by Mr Lula within a span of eight months of the visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Brazil in September last year, ''is a reflection of the mutual commitment to develop and diversify bilateral relations in a comprehensive manner. It is also a reflection of the strength of the growing strategic partnership between the two countries.'' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Lula expressed particular satisfaction at the launching of the first meeting of the India-Brazil Strategic Dialogue that was co-chaired by Mr M K Narayanan, National Security Advisor of India and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim of Brazil.

The dialogue enabled both sides to review the state of cooperation and chart out a course for the future, inter alia, in the areas of space, nuclear energy for peaceful use, defence and the fight against terrorism.

UNI