International - India & World

“Working together for Security Council seat”

BRASILIA: President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday said the multifaceted strategic partnership between India and Brazil was founded on a convergence of world views and a shared vision of a new multipolar world order which included their quest for a permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.

Addressing the Brazilian National Congress (which consists of the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies), she said: “We have closely coordinated our positions in the multilateral fora and are working together within the framework of G-4 to pursue our rightful and long overdue permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.”

Even though Ms Patil was the first Indian leader to address the Brazilian Parliament, the attendance by Senators and Deputies was conspicuously low.

In her 20-minute address, she exhorted the Senators for early ratification of the Preferential Trade Agreement. The PTA between India and Mercosur (a trading bloc of Latin American countries) was signed during the visit of Brazilian President Lula da Silva to New Delhi in January 2004. She said the PTA’s ratification and implementation would further boost trade flows to the target of $10 billion by 2010.

Pointing to the “historic struggle” in which India and Brazil were engaged to empower all their citizens irrespective of class, creed or colour, Ms Patil said India was firm and resolute in pursuing the goal of rapid and socially inclusive growth within the framework of democracy. “The task of economic development, never an easy one, is particularly challenging when it is to be realised in a democratic polity. However, India is committed to economic growth, social development and democracy.”

Making a strong case for narrowing down geographical distances between India and Latin America, the President urged major players in civil aviation, both public and private, to take the initiative. She called for building cultural bridges and greater tourism flows as also exchanges between students, academic communities and intellectuals for a more people-to-people contact.

Earlier, President of the Federal Senate Garibaldi Alves Filho received Ms Patil.

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