Convergence across continents Brazil-India relationship

In this exclusive article for Deccan Herald, the Indian Ambassador in Brazil looks at how much the two biggest democracies in Asia and Latin America have in common.

Descriptions in international relations these days can be confusing for the non-expert. Groupings of countries are sometimes like an alphabet soup BASIC, IBSA, BRIC, etc going much beyond the old familiars like UN, NAM or NATO. Or it can be like a numbers game with tags — G-4, G-8, G-20.

Those whose business it is to decipher all these mysterious signs and symbols find something interesting — in all these there are two constants, India and Brazil. This is not a coincidence but more a reflection of the congruence about how these two countries, separated by history, geography and language nevertheless come together so often and with such import.

Why is this so? “A natural and a necessary partnership,” is the way the Brazilian foreign minister Celso Amorim characterises the linkages between Brazil and India. A moment’s reflection will reveal the aptness of this description. The commonalities between the two countries make it a ‘natural’ partnership.

First, the obvious and objective factors: large geographical size — India is a large country no doubt, but we marvel at Brazil’s size, two and a half times the size of India; the substantial demographics — India is the second largest and Brazil the fifth (with 200 million) in the world in population; the trillion dollar plus economies which have been growing at more than 5 per cent in the case of Brazil and 8 per cent in the case of India making us the notable ‘emerging economies’; and despite the impressive size of the economy, the fact of disparities and deficiencies for large numbers in both countries. In short, we are comparable in many ways in a fundamental physical sense.

More important, however are the shared values and vision. This can be captured in terms of the three big Ds: Democratic values, Developmental priorities and Diversity as a reality. The three taken together makes a policy of ‘inclusive growth’ a fundamental imperative.

Both Brazil and India have no doubt been growing and are emerging economic powers, and this is what brings them together in BRIC, but both see themselves essentially as developing countries, as countries of the South, which need to grow while always keeping the priority of ‘equity’ in view.

This is what makes us partners in IBSA, with South Africa as a nation from the continent of Africa sharing the same values and approaches.
If these factors make for a ‘natural’ partnership, what are the components, which make us, believe that it is necessary too? To answer this, we have to look at the vision of a restructured global order that Brazil and India share. There is a widespread realisation today that there are many issues — security, economy, environment, health, terrorism — which are truly global in nature and require global solutions.

Unrepresentative

There is also awareness and even a grudging acceptance that the current structures of global governance, be it the UN Security Council or the IMF or the World Bank or the OECD, are unrepresentative of the realities of the 21st century. Many of these structures reflect the politico-strategic realities of 1945 and not of 2010.

In the imperative to restructure the institutions to make them more democratic, representative and legitimate, both Brazil and India share a vision. Our joint efforts in this direction, in partnership with other like-minded countries is a necessary and beneficial activity, not only for our good, but for ‘global good’ as well.

Some of this is seen in the salience of new formations such as G-20 or the BASIC at the Copenhagen Conference. In a world which is increasingly seen as multipolar, Brazil and India work together towards a new style of multilateralism anchored in a coalition of the like-minded.

While all this is positive, for people like me, working to further strengthen our links, the real challenge is in adding greater content to the bilateral engagement, as distinct from the multilateral. The fact is that as individuals or as corporations, we are discovering each other only now, and starting really only in this decade.

The different colonial histories, which took Indians to Canada or the Caribbean, but not to Brazil, and the distance and lack of connectivity account for it, at least partially. But some one like me at the cross section of our bilateral contacts cannot but help notice that among businessmen, bankers, academics or civil society activists there is now a growing interest in each other. Trade and investments are increasing, albeit still far below the potential.

A significant trend is the interest by academics or analysts in studying the developmental model or social programmes such as ‘Bolsa familia.’ Since our problems are so similar in areas such as poverty reduction, public health or education, we can learn from each other with regard to best practices and delivery models.

Brazil is no doubt still distant and esoteric for us with clichéd images of football, fashion, Amazon or sun drenched beaches but in the era of global connectivity, we are beginning to transcend physical and mental barriers and are discovering our areas of convergence.

(This writer can be reached at [e-mail])