Brazil pauses talks to buy India's Akash missiles, but Modi, Lula agree to expand defence ties

New Delhi: Brazil has halted negotiations for buying the air defence system from India, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the South American nation’s highest civilian honour from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brasilia on Tuesday.

Modi and Lula agreed to raise the bilateral trade, which was at $12.20 billion in 2024-25, to $20 billion in the next five years, even as President Donald Trump announced that the United States would impose additional 10% tariffs on imports from the BRICS nations. India and Brazil are founder members of the BRICS.

Modi and Lula agreed to expand bilateral defence and security cooperation, but Brazil decided to halt negotiations to procure Akash, an air defence missile system, from India. Lula’s government in Brasilia, according to the sources, rather focused on procuring the Enhanced Modular Air Defence Solutions (EMADS) system from Italy.

“Growing cooperation between India and Brazil in the defence sector is a symbol of deep mutual trust between the two nations,” Modi said after a meeting with Lula in Brasilia.

“Being two big democracies, our cooperation is relevant not just for the Global South, but the whole of humanity. When the world is reeling under times of stress and uncertainty, India and Brazil's partnership is an important pillar of stability and balance,” said the Prime Minister, who attended the BRICS summit in Rio on Sunday and Monday and then travelled to Brasilia for a bilateral meeting with the president of Brazil.

After his meeting with Modi, Lula conferred Brazil’s highest civilian honour – The Grand Collar of the National Order of the Southern Cross – on the Prime Minister of India.

He said that India and Brazil would continue efforts to build stronger ties between the defence industries of the two nations.

Brazil is also interested in procuring from India other defence equipment, like coastal surveillance systems and the artillery gun Garuda. The two sides discussed in joint research and development and co-development of military hardware.

“In the field of energy, our cooperation is constantly increasing. Environment and clean energy are the main priorities of both countries. To increase cooperation in this field, today's agreement will give a new momentum to our green goals,” said the Prime Minister.

He said that India and Brazil had similar views on the fight against terrorism. “Zero tolerance and zero double standards are our clear stand. We strongly oppose terror and the supporters of terrorism,” said the Prime Minister.