Brasilia and New Delhi are set to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals and artificial intelligence (AI) when Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the two nations position themselves as leading voices for the developing world amid a fragile global order.
Lula is to hold bilateral talks with Modi today after attending the AI Summit in New Delhi. He arrived in the Indian capital on Wednesday on a three-day visit, his fourth as president.
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, said Indian officials familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the talks are private.
Photo: AFP
LARGEST RESERVES
Brazil, home to the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earths, also wants a more inclusive global debate on AI, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for further information.
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 AI and critical minerals, closer cooperation between countries such as Brazil and India could strengthen the collective clout of developing nations in shaping how the technology is developed and regulated.
New Delhi and Brasilia sought closer ties as US President Donald Trump slapped both countries with 50 percent tariffs.
Modi visited Brazil in July last year, where the two agreed to work closely on defense, energy, food security, and to reduce non-tariff barriers to increase trade, the July statement said.
Both nations want to enter into processing of critical minerals rather than remaining suppliers of raw materials. China dominates both extraction and processing, while countries including the US are racing to secure alternative sources and partnerships.
The decisions are likely to influence how emerging economies coordinate on rare earth processing and AI regulation in multilateral forums such as the G20 and the BRICS bloc, of which both are members, to prevent concentration of resources in few capitals.
Brazil and India are pushing for people-centric, open-source, multilingual AI 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 companies, a sentiment shared by the Brazilian leader.
AI HOTSPOT
Brazil’s aim is to avoid the sort of geopolitical divide that emerged around nuclear energy in which only a handful of nations were allowed to use the technology, an official with knowledge of the situation said.
The South American nation has emerged as a regional hotspot for AI-related investments, securing a US$38 billion commitment from ByteDance’s TikTok to build a massive data center complex late last year.
Elea Data Centers, a company backed by Goldman Sachs, also has plans for a US$50 billion project in Rio de Janeiro, and the Brazilian Congress is weighing legislation aimed at attracting even more investment into data centers.
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