India-Brazil Joint Declaration to Deepen MERCOSUR-India Agreement

• 17 Oct 2025
• 218 Views

On 16 October 2025, during a meeting held in New Delhi, the Vice President of Brazil and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services Geraldo Alckmin along with the Minister of Commerce and Industry of India Piyush Goyal welcomed interest for both India and the MERCOSUR Member States to deepen their existing Preferential Trade Agreement. The aim is to enhance trade and investment between the two parties. 

They recalled the Framework Agreement signed between India and MERCOSUR on 17 June 2003 to strengthen relations and promote trade expansion in accordance with the rules as well as the disciplines of the WTO. 

They agreed on the following points: 

1. The expansion of the Agreement should be substantial to ensure a significant share of bilateral trade benefits from tariff preferences. 

2. The expansion should address the tariff issues as well non-tariff issues pertaining to trade and economic partnerships. 

3. In order to support negotiation process, active participation from the private sector and other stakeholders should be promoted. 

4. The next step in this initiative should involve establishing a technical dialogue between the parties, including a meeting of the Joint Administration Committee created under Article 23 of the Preferential Trade Agreement at the earliest mutually convenient date to define the scope of the expansion. 

5. The parties should aim to conclude the negotiations within one year from the launch of discussions. 

In addition, the Brazilian side indicated that it will work in a coordinated manner with its MERCOSUR partners towards a substantial, swift and mutually beneficial deepening of the Agreement.

About MERCOSUR

Mercosur stands for “Mercado Común del Sur” in Spanish, translated as “Southern Common Market” in English. It is a South American trading bloc that was established in 1991 with the purpose of facilitating the free movement of goods, services, capital and people among its member countries. 

The full members of MERCOSUR are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia. Venezuela was a full member but its membership has been suspended since 2016. The Permanent Secretariat of MERCOSUR is based in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)