New Delhi: Visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva was today conferred Jawahar Lal Nehru award for international understanding for his contribution to strengthening of bilateral ties between the Lula Da Silva, who is on a three-day visit to the country to strengthen strategic and trade ties, said he was amazed with the cultural diversity of the country.
"When I visited old Delhi, I was struck by the proximity as on the same street there is a temple, a mosque, a gurudwara and a church. The mosaic of 5,000-year-old civilisations co-exists with the world's largest democracy. Nehru's political and humanistic vision inspired the political architecture that underlies this rich co-existence," Lula Da Silva said.
The award carries a trophy, a citation and cash prize of 2.5 million rupees. The Brazilian President, who was accompanied by a 100-member business delegation, said he wanted to enhance the ties between the two countries.
Lula Da Silva has joined the list of international personalities like Helmut Kohl, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Nelson Mandela and Yasser Arafat who had earlier receive the award. The award named after the country's first Prime Minister was constituted in 1965 as a tribute to him.
India and Brazil also decided to step up bilateral trade four-fold to 10 billion dollars by 2010 even as the Latin American nation's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asserted a new world economic order cannot be negotiated without taking on board the two nations.
Lula, who along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced formation of a CEOs Forum to boost two-way trade and investment, said rich nations must bargain with India and Brazil and the two most important developing countries "do not need lessons" from the developed world. Lula also noted the two countries had decided to step up trade from the present 2.4 billion dollars to 10 billion dollars by 2010, and said this "is feasible".
He said Brazil can transfer bio-fuel technology to India, besides help improve the country's farm productivity. Brazil is the largest producer of ethanol at 16 billion liters a year and India, which imports more than 70 per cent of its oil requirements, has launched a programme to blend ethanol with petrol to reduce import dependence.
Lula said India can contribute in the pharmaceutical sector, and that both countries can cooperate in the engineering sector. "We have launched the CEOs' Forum to stimulate trade and investment. To achieve the target, we must diversify trade which is restricted to less value added products," he said.
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