Brazil is pushing for the sale of C390 Millennium aircraft to IAF

Kolkata: The first-ever Brazil-India defence dialogue for industrial and strategic collaboration will be held next week in New Delhi. The Brazilian delegation will be led by a vice minister of defence.

Brazilian ambassador to India Kenneth Haczynski Da Nobrega shared the details while speaking at ‘India-Brazil Fostering Trade Partnership – Focus West Bengal,’ a special session organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, on Saturday.

He said, “We have been having a number of high and mid-level exchange of visits in defence over the last year. In the next week, we are going to have the first defence industry bilateral dialogue between India and Brazil, followed by the first 2+2 Brazil-India defence dialogue which includes not only industry but also strategic aspects.”

Mr Nobrega added, “The Brazilian delegation will be headed by one of our vice ministers of defence. It will also have representatives of the Brazilian defence industries.”

Referring to the recent collaboration between Embraer and Mahindra for acquisition of the C-390 Millennium multi-mission aircraft by the Indian Air Force, the Brazilian envoy also pointed out that defence is one of the three main pillars his country is trying to build in its economic partnership with India.

The two other pillars, Mr Nobrega stated, are energy and agriculture. Wagner Antunes, head of trade promotion at the Brazilian embassy in India, who accompanied Mr Nobrega, underlined that two Brazilian defence firms already established their production units in India.

He said, “We also have a very concrete interest in Embraer in establishing not only assembly line but actually manufacturing C390 millennium aircraft, depending how the procurement process with the IAF goes. So these are just three recent examples of the Brazilian companies are looking for establishing themselves in India. There are many other companies also. We have a very solid industrial defence base and we will contribute to identify further opportunities in different Indian states.”