Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived in India on February 18 for a state visit targeting $20bn in bilateral trade for the year, up from $15.2bn in 2025, as he seeks to deepen ties with one of the world's fastest-growing major economies.

Taking part in an artificial intelligence summit in India, Lula will also aim to position Brazil as a leading voice in the global debate on AI governance. Lula’s week-long Asia tour includes participation in the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi and a state visit to India through February 21, O Globo reported.

After that, he will travel on to South Korea for meetings with President Lee Jae Myung and to take part in a Brazil-Korea business forum.

He is accompanied by a delegation of 12 ministers and approximately 300 businesspeople.

Bilateral trade between Brazil and India grew 25% in 2025 compared with the previous year, with Brazilian exports jumping 30% to $6.9bn — the highest level in two decades.

Between 2021 and 2025, exports to India grew at an average annual rate of 9.4%, outpacing Brazil's overall global export growth.

The new $20bn trade target includes plans to expand the range of traded goods from approximately 1,500 to 2,000 products.

Brazil has identified 378 potential export opportunities in India spanning mineral fuels, machinery, food and beverage products, healthcare goods and renewable energy solutions.

Main Brazilian exports include sugar and molasses, crude petroleum, vegetable oils, raw cotton and iron ore, with demand for the latter driven by India's expanding infrastructure and construction sectors.

Brazil imported $8.4bn worth of goods from India in 2025, up 21%, concentrated in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and automotive components.

"India and Brazil share a close and multifaceted relationship," stated Indian Foreign Ministery spokesman Randhir Jaiswal.

Brazil’s Health Minister Alexandre Padilha said pharmaceutical sector agreements would be a priority, while agribusiness is also a major focus. Brazil seeks expanded market access for pigeon peas and will discuss India's roughly 100% tariffs on chicken cuts that currently limit Brazilian exports, Xinhua reported.

"The government is seeking to build mechanisms that provide trade predictability with India, a market considered a priority due to the size of its consumption and the volatility of its local agricultural production," said Luis Rua, secretary of trade and international relations at Brazil's Agriculture Ministry.

On February 19, Lula is set to address the plenary session of the Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit, the fourth gathering in the series and the first held in a country of the Global South — a point heavily emphasised by both the Indian and Brazilian delegations, Folha de S. Paulo reported.

Around 20 heads of state are expected to attend, along with technology executives including Google's Sundar Pichai and OpenAI's Sam Altman.

According to Folha, Lula is expected to defend principles of inclusion, development and sustainability in his speech, arguing that AI tools should serve social inclusion and broader population needs rather than narrow commercial interests.

The Brazilian government also intends to highlight the risks of new technologies in generating disinformation, even as many governments and companies express enthusiasm over AI's economic opportunities.

Brazil co-chaired one of the summit's seven working groups and is keen to integrate the event's outcomes into the multilateral system by channelling recommendations to the UN, whose Secretary-General António Guterres is also participating.

The US will be represented by White House Director of Science and Technology Michael Kratsios.

On February 21, Lula will hold a state visit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which several bilateral agreements are expected to be signed, including a digital partnership accord. India took over the presidency of the BRICS bloc, of which both countries are founding members, from Brazil in January.