13 September 2006
1. The Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, the President of Brazil Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva and the President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki met in
BrasÃlia on 13 September 2006 for the historic first summit meeting of the
India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA). They expressed their deep
appreciation with the consolidation of the IBSA Dialogue Forum.
2. The three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the promotion of peace,
security and sustainable economic and social development in the world and in
their respective regions. They reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism
and the pre-eminent role of the United Nations (UN). They also discussed the
reform of the UN and of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the
successful conclusion of the Doha Round in the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
with the development dimension at the core of its outcome.
3. The Heads of State and Government reiterated their support for the
comprehensive reform of the UN and welcomed the creation of the peace building
commission and the Human Rights Council (HRC). They reaffirmed the need for a
decision regarding the expansion of the Security Council in both its permanent
and non-permanent categories, so as to reflect contemporary realities and make
it more democratic, legitimate, representative and responsive. They reaffirmed
their commitment to continue to jointly pursue a decision on Security Council
expansion on an urgent basis.
4. The Heads of State and government unequivocally condemned terrorism in
all its forms and manifestations. They stressed that there can be no
justification, whatsoever, for any act of terrorism. They shared the view that
the international community must further intensify efforts and co-operation to
fight this scourge. They called upon all member states to seriously work
towards an expeditious finalisation of the text for a comprehensive convention
on international terrorism.
5. The Presidents of Brazil and South Africa also expressed their outrage at
the barbaric terrorist attacks carried out on 11 July 2006 in Mumbai and other
parts of India. They called upon the international community to undertake all
necessary measures to bring to justice perpetrators, collaborators and sponsors
of these and other acts of terrorism as well as those who incite the
perpetrators to commit them.
6. The Heads of State and Government reiterated their strong commitment to
the action against hunger and poverty initiative and in particular the
Millennium Declaration and the 2005 World Summit outcome. They noted with
satisfaction the progress towards creating an international drug purchasing
facility to respond to the challenges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
(TB).
7. They also committed themselves to further enhancing trilateral
co-operation in the field of HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB and to explore the
possibilities of concluding a trilateral instrument for collaboration among all
three countries for research and development of HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB
diagnostic tools, drugs and vaccines. This would pool the significant
capabilities that exist in the IBSA countries.
8. India, Brazil and South Africa elected to the newly formed HRC, share
common visions regarding the promotion and protection of human rights. The
three countries share a common vision to reaffirm the universality,
indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms including the realisation and operationalisation of the
right to development and the special protection of rights of vulnerable
groups.
9. India, Brazil and South Africa share similar views regarding the
importance of achieving sustainable development particularly through the
eradication of poverty, the promotion of economic growth and the protection of
the environment. They urge the donor countries to meet their official
development assistance targets and to mobilise new and additional financial
resources.
10. The Prime Minister of India and the Presidents of Brazil and South
Africa took stock of the global security situation concerning disarmament and
non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The leaders reiterated
their commitment to the goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons. They
emphasised the necessity to start negotiations on a phased programme for the
complete elimination of nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, non-discriminatory
and verifiable manner with a specified framework of time.
11. The Heads of State and Government reaffirmed the inalienable right of
all States to the peaceful application of nuclear energy, consistent with their
international legal obligations. They agreed to explore approaches to
co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy under appropriate
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. They further agreed that
international civilian nuclear co-operation, under appropriate IAEA safeguards,
amongst countries committed to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
objectives could be enhanced through acceptable forward-looking approaches
consistent with their respective national and international obligations.
12. The Heads of State and Government deeply regretted that the WTO's Doha
Development Agenda negotiations have been suspended. Failure to conclude the
negotiations in accordance with the mandate will deprive developing countries
of fair and equitable conditions for fully realising their right to
development. Distortions affecting agricultural trade and production should be
expeditiously eliminated and agriculture should be fully incorporated into the
rules of the multilateral trading system. They called upon countries that have
not yet done so to substantially and effectively reduce their expenditures on
agricultural subsidies. India, Brazil and South Africa shall spare no effort to
resume the suspended negotiations.
13. The Heads of State and Government reiterated their commitment towards a
fairer global trading system, to the benefit of developing countries. In this
respect and taking into account the spirit of the Brasilia declaration they
welcomed the progress achieved so far in the São Paulo Round of the Global
System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP).
14. The Prime Minister of India, the President of Brazil and the President
of South Africa reviewed initiatives for trilateral sectoral co-operation. They
expressed deep satisfaction with new, concrete results achieved during the
first IBSA Summit in the areas of energy, agriculture, transportation, trade,
science and technology and information society. They decided to further explore
additional opportunities for trilateral co-operation.
15. The Heads of State and Government expressed their deep satisfaction with
the signing during the first IBSA Summit of the IBSA action plan on trade
facilitation for standards, technical regulations and conformity
assessment.
16. They expressed their full support and commitment to the expeditious
establishment of the Working Group to focus on the modalities for the envisaged
India-Mercosur-South Africa Customs Union (SACU) Trilateral Free Trade Area
(T-FTA).
17. They reaffirmed in parallel the importance of ongoing India-Mercosur and
Mercosur-SACU negotiations with a view to broadening and deepening existing
tariff preference agreements.
18. The three countries expressed their satisfaction with the presence of
important and high level business delegations from India, Brazil and South
Africa at the India, Brazil and South Africa Business Summit, organised by the
Brazilian Confederation of National Industry (CNI) with the support of
Associated Chambers of Commerce of and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Council of
Institutional Investors (CII) and Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI) from India and Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), from South
Africa. Furthermore, the Heads of State and Government held a meeting with
business delegations from the three countries and had a fruitful exchange of
views on perspectives and challenges for the expansion of trade among the IBSA
countries.
19. The Heads of State and Government expressed deep appreciation for the
signature, during the IBSA Summit, of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
Bio-fuels with the decision to create a Trilateral Task Force on Biofuels to
work on concrete areas of common interest.
20. The Prime Minister of India and the President of South Africa praised
the ethanol international initiative launched by Brazil and agreed on the need
to work together to promote and enhance the use of ethanol and bio-diesel.
21. The Heads of State and Government agreed that the MoU on Trilateral
Co-operation in agriculture and allied fields, signed during the IBSA Summit,
will be an important instrument to promote socio-economic development and
south-south co-operation.
22. The Heads of State and Government welcomed the signing of the IBSA
Trilateral agreement concerning merchant shipping and other maritime transport
related matters.
23. They also emphasised the importance of implementing the MoU on Civil
Aviation as soon as possible, through the establishment of regular air services
linking India, Brazil and South Africa. They encouraged airlines from the three
countries to continue working towards this goal.
24. The Heads of State and Government expressed their satisfaction with the
signing of an IBSA Framework of Co-operation on Information Society, which
provides the basis for future trilateral work aiming at reducing the digital
divide in their societies.
25. The Heads of State and Government emphasised the fact that the IBSA
facility fund constitutes a pioneer and unique initiative of south-south
co-operation. In this regard they expressed their satisfaction with the
initiatives in Guinea-Bissau and Haiti. The Prime Minister of India and the
Presidents of Brazil and South Africa underscored their countries' commitment
to allocate at least US$1 million a year to the IBSA facility fund. IBSA
members encourage developing countries particularly the least developing
countries to submit projects to the IBSA fund.
26. The Heads of State and Government expressed their satisfaction that the
fourth meeting of the Trilateral Commission would be hosted by India in the
first quarter of 2007. In addition, they considered the possibility of holding
the second summit of the IBSA Dialogue Forum, in South Africa, on a date to be
set through diplomatic channels.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
13 September 2006
