Brazil is the country-theme of this year’s India International Trade Fair (IITF 2004), which began on Sunday and runs until November 27 in New Delhi. This is the 24th IITF, which in one of Asia’s biggest trade events.
Brazil’s Export Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) spent US$ 430,000 to set up an exhibition of Brazilian products at the fair. Brazil’s stand it the Fair’s biggest, covering 1,600 square meters.
The products exhibited will be from the following sectors: food, cosmetics, footwear and leather, personal hygiene and perfumes, medical-dental equipment, jewelry and gems, machinery and equipment, sports equipment, cleaning products and musical instruments.
It is estimated that 3.5 million people will visit the fair.
Brazil’s strong presence at the fair is a continuation of the strategy begun with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to India at the beginning of this year.
Free Trade Area
Ealier this year, the ministers of Foreign Relations of Brazil, South Africa, and India met in New Delhi (India) to give continuity to the project for the creation of one great free trade area among the three countries.
The three countries are interested in negotiating a more intense tripartite trade, and establish partnerships in development projects that can later be repeated in other countries, like the United Nations Development Program.
The Brazilian government wants to creat this area, called the G-3, mainly because the group would comprise three large democracies that hold important positions on their continents and can act together on international issues and encourage the democratization of the international system, as the Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, has affirmed.
Brazil, South Africa, and India have called for strengthening the United Nations and reforming the Security Council, and they have demonstrated interest in maintaining cooperation in the areas of security, public health, particularly the fight against Aids, and drug-trafficking.
In addition, they intend to establish closer relations between cooperation projects in various areas, such as technology and energy, and expand them to the Mercosur and the customs unions of South Africa and India.
ABr