Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the chief guest at India’s 71st Republic Day celebrations, will be on a state visit to the country from January 24-27 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On his first visit to India after assuming power, Bolsonaro will be accompanied by seven ministers, top officials and a large business delegation.
Jair Bolsonaro will be the third Brazilian President to grace the R-Day celebrations after Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1996 and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2004.
On Bolsonaro being the chief guest at India’s 71st Republic Day celebrations, Brazil’s Ambassador to India, André AranhaCorrêa do Lago said the President is “very excited to participate in the most important day of the year”.
“It is the most prestigious invitation India can make,” the envoy added.
Further, speaking to news agency ANI, the Brazilian ambassador said that on January 25, there will be a series of high-level meetings including an exchange over 15 agreements with the Indian government and institutions. “A plan of action will be launched by President Bolsonaro and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strengthen the strategic relationship between the two countries,” he said.
Over 80 businessmen are expected to come from Brazil, according to the envoy.
“We will have a series of important meetings on January 27, concentrating mostly on some areas that we have identified as having great potential for bilateral relations. It includes energy, agriculture and defence industry,” André AranhaCorrêa said.
President Jair Bolsonaro is in India with an aim to boost its $7 billion in annual bilateral trade with New Delhi to $25 billion in the next few years among other ties.
During his meeting with Bolsonaro on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS Summit in November 2019, PM Modi had invited the President of Brazil to be the chief guest at the Republic Day 2020. Bolsonaro accepted the invitation with pleasure.