Brazil and India to Deepen Critical Mineral and Technology Ties

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(Bloomberg) — Brazil and India are set to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals and artificial intelligence when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the two nations position themselves as leading voices for the developing world amid a fragile global order.

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Lula will hold bilateral talks with India’s Modi on Saturday after attending the AI Summit. He arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday on a three-day visit, his fourth as president.

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The two sides are discussing a framework agreement on cooperation in critical minerals and rare earths, which could be announced after the leaders’ talks in New Delhi, according to Indian officials familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the talks are private. Brazil, home to the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earths, also wants a more inclusive global debate on AI, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

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India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for further information.

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Lula’s visit comes at a time when emerging economies are seeking greater influence over the technologies and supply chains reshaping the global order. As competition between the US and China intensifies over artificial intelligence and critical minerals, closer cooperation between countries like Brazil and India could strengthen the collective clout of developing nations in shaping how the technology is developed and regulated.

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New Delhi and Brasilia sought closer ties as US President Donald Trump slapped both countries with 50% tariffs. Modi visited Brazil in July, where the two agreed to work closely on defense, energy, food security, and to reduce “non-tariff barriers” to increase trade, according to the July joint statement. 

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Lula is accompanied by senior members of his cabinet and several industry leaders who will participate in a business forum, reflecting growing trade and commercial engagements between the two countries, India’s External Affairs Ministry said. 

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The two leaders again met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg in November as part of India-Brazil-South Africa trilateral grouping — the so-called IBSA forum — which was convened after decade-long gap. 

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Critical Minerals

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Both nations want to enter into processing of critical minerals rather than remaining suppliers of raw materials. China currently dominates both extraction and processing, with countries including the US are racing to secure alternative sources and partnerships.

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The decisions are likely to influence how emerging economies coordinate on rare earth processing and AI regulation in multilateral forums such as the Group of 20 nations and the BRICS bloc, of which both are members, to prevent concentration of resources in few capitals. 

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Brazil and India are pushing for people-centric, open-source, multilingual artificial intelligence models. Modi has used the AI summit in Delhi to showcase the country’s vast, tech-savvy population and deep engineering talent as evidence that it can offer an alternative to AI models shaped by major global technology firms, a sentiment shared by the Brazilian leader.