Narendra Modi: Hails Lula’s re-election, seeks closer ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his re-election and sought closer cooperation across the India-Brazil Strategic Partnership, the Prime Minister’s Office said. DD News reported that Modi issued the message on 26 October 2026, following Lula’s victory in Brazil’s presidential runoff.

Modi called the result a “remarkable re-election victory” in the message released by his office. He said the two countries would work together to advance the shared priorities of the Global South, a broad grouping of developing countries, and strengthen cooperation across several sectors.

The message sets out an intention to deepen ties rather than announcing a new agreement. It follows a bilateral agenda adopted during Lula’s February visit to India covering trade, digital technology, health, defence and the energy transition, according to the India-Brazil joint statement dated 21 February 2026.

Lula won 51.8 per cent of the vote with counting complete, CBC reported, citing Brazil’s electoral court. The Council on Foreign Relations had identified 25 October as the date of the runoff in its pre-election account. CNBC reported that the result gives Lula a fourth presidential term, running from 2027 to 2030.

The outcome was contested by his opponent, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. DD News reported that Bolsonaro refused to concede and said he would seek annulment over a decision extending voting by two hours. CBC reported that both campaigns had requested an extension, citing transport difficulties in areas favourable to Lula and heavy rain in the south, where Bolsonaro had stronger support.

A bilateral agenda agreed before the election

The February joint statement, published by the Indian Embassy in Brasilia, records that Modi and Lula met at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on 21 February. Their discussions covered bilateral relations, international institutions and issues affecting developing countries.

The leaders reaffirmed the strategic partnership established in 2006 and a roadmap organised around five priorities: defence and security; food and nutritional security; energy transition and climate change; digital transformation and emerging technologies; and industrial partnerships in strategic areas.

That statement provides the specific policy background to Modi’s post-election call for cooperation across diverse sectors. The commitments were made before the Brazilian election and were not new measures announced in his congratulatory message.

The February document also records Lula’s support for the priorities of India’s 2026 chairship of BRICS, the grouping through which both countries pursue cooperation with other emerging economies. The Council on Foreign Relations’ pre-election analysis described engagement with the Global South and multilateral institutions as priorities of Lula’s government.

Trade target and market access

The February joint statement said bilateral trade grew by 25.5 per cent in 2025 compared with 2024. Modi and Lula called for maintaining that momentum towards a target of USD 20 billion by 2030. The figure is a target, not a reported level of trade already achieved.

The leaders directed officials to address non-tariff barriers, meaning obstacles to trade other than customs duties. They also agreed that issues involving anti-dumping and countervailing duties, trade measures addressing unfair pricing and subsidies, needed to be handled effectively to strengthen business confidence.

According to the same statement, the leaders welcomed the entry into force of the Cooperation and Facilitation Investment Agreement and a protocol amending their agreement on avoiding double taxation. They described these instruments as providing a more predictable framework for investment and trade.

The economic agenda extends beyond bilateral exchanges. The statement called for expanding the preferential trade agreement between India and Mercosur, the Southern Common Market, to improve access for agricultural, agro-industrial and industrial goods. A preferential trade agreement gives covered goods more favourable trading terms.

The leaders instructed their authorities to intensify work on that expansion. Their statement expressed an expectation that negotiations would advance in a timely and structured manner; it did not announce a completed expansion.

They also welcomed an agreement on mutual recognition of electronic certificates of origin, documents used to establish where goods originate. The statement said the arrangement would enable secure validation of electronic signatures and make origin checks more efficient and predictable for businesses.

Digital systems, AI and medicines

Technology was another substantial part of the February agenda. Modi and Lula welcomed the signing of the Joint Declaration on Digital Partnership for the Future, which envisages cooperation on digital public infrastructure through joint initiatives, institutions and projects.

Digital public infrastructure refers to shared digital systems that support access to services at population scale. The statement said the countries intended to draw on each other’s experience in digital transformation and the delivery of public services.

On artificial intelligence, the leaders encouraged discussions on national strategies, large language models, applications and possible joint projects involving model training and data protection. These were areas identified for collaboration, rather than completed projects. The statement also recorded their interest in using AI in education and within digital public infrastructure.

Health cooperation gives another concrete dimension to the wider partnership. In February, the leaders called for stronger local and regional production of medicines, vaccines and other health supplies. They said cooperation could improve access to affordable medicines across developing countries and encouraged pharmaceutical companies to diversify their partnerships.

The statement identified co-development and technology transfer for essential medicines as priorities, including treatments for rare diseases and cancer. It also welcomed a memorandum of understanding between Brazil’s ANVISA and India’s CDSCO, the two countries’ drug regulatory agencies, intended to support closer regulatory cooperation and faster approvals for reciprocal imports of medicines.