New Delhi [India], Jan 21 (ANI): Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, who will be India's chief guest for its Republic Day event, will have a packed schedule during his four-day stay in the country.
"Mr Bolsonaro is the chief guest for India's Republic Day and it is an enormous honour. He is very excited to participate in the most important day of the year. It is the most prestigious invitation that the Indian government can make," stated Andre Aranha Correa Do Lago, the ambassador of the federative republic of Brazil.
This would be Bolsonaro's maiden trip to India after assuming power. The focus of the visit, officials at the Brazil embassy say, would be strengthening bilateral relations especially in fields of energy, agriculture and defence.
The President would be accompanied by eight of his ministers and he would hold various interactions with the business fraternity as well.
Giving out a chronology of the events the ambassador said that the state visit, planned from January 24, will have very high-level visits and other ceremonial events.
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"But mostly we will discuss many aspects of our relationship with many ministers and perspectives in where we can increase our bilateral relationship. We are going to exchange more than 15 agreements between the government and with institutions. We will also launch the plan of action for our strategic partnership that we want to make more dynamic," stated the Ambassador of Brazil to India.
According to officials, there would be a reception on January 25 at the Rashtrapati Bhawan and a visit to Rajghat is being planned. A meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled at Hyderabad house.
"There are two meetings as per our information. One is a private meeting with the Prime Minister and second, would be with the cabinet ministers," informed the official at the Brazil embassy.
On January 26, the President would participate in the Republic Day event as the chief guest. On January 27, the President is set to open the Indian Brazil Business Forum where business leaders from both countries would participate.
"The third dimension of the visit would be to focus on business and a high profile event is scheduled on January 27. We have more than 80 Brazilian businessmen coming where we will have a series of important meetings lined up. We have identified fields we see great potential for bilateral relations that include energy, agriculture, and defence industry," stated Lago.
He further elaborated on the business meeting, "It is going to be an intense day. The President will begin the day with eight ministers coming from Brazil. He would have CEOs in the audience who are looking to invest in Brazil. It is a complete visit with a political and strong economic investment dimension. But most of all it is the symbolic gesture of extending the invitation that is valuable to us and speaks volumes about our friendship."
Speaking on the expectations from the visit, the ambassador said that it has become very clear during the preparation of the visit the two countries share a mature relationship in everything which is multilateral and plurilateral."We have to strengthen the bilateral aspect and this is I believe the main takeaway is the complete conviction of working for the bilateral relationship," Lago said.