India, Brazil to step up efforts on UN reform

Seeking a greater global role, India and Brazil on Friday agreed to step up efforts towards global reform, particularly of the UN Security Council.

The two countries also agreed to further strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership and exploit full potential in areas such as trade, education, defence, space and nuclear energy.

During their 90-minute talks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff also set a trade target of 15 billion dollars by 2015 and noted that bilateral trade and investment had grown by leaps and bounds.

The two sides also signed six documents to enhance cooperation in the fields of science and technology, education and culture.

Noting that India and Brazil had emerged as "new growth poles" of the evolving global economy, Singh said he and Rousseff agreed to enhance consultations on reform of global governance system, particularly in the context of UN reforms and in the G-20 process.

"We have agreed to step up our efforts, particularly towards the reform of the United Nations Security Council as G-4 partners," the Prime Minister said.

The two leaders also undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral relations, including the work of the inter-governmental Joint Commission Meeting which met last December in New Delhi.

"We directed our officials to take specific steps to exploit the full potential in areas such as trade, education, science and technology, environment, defence, space and nuclear energy," the Prime Minister said.