New Delhi, June 12 (ANI): Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has invited Brazil to invest in the recently launched National Infrastructure and Manufacturing Special Economic Zone as well as in the food processing industries.

Sharma had a Ministerial Dialogue with his counterpart Fernando Pimentel, Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade in Brasilia on Monday.

Both sides agreed that infrastructure was one area in which lot of opportunities existed on both sides for the companies to participate in.

During the recent state visit of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to India, President herself had invited Sharma to visit Brazil for advancing the bilateral economic and commercial relations, as also to address the larger issue of making essential drugs available at affordable prices to our population.

In this context, Sharma was accompanied by a pharma delegation of 15 top Indian companies coordinated by Pharmexil.

During the ministerial dialogue, both sides agreed that the establishment of a working group in the pharmaceuticals and life sciences would be a welcome step towards furthering the cooperation between India and Brazil in this area. Brazil expressed keen interest in collaboration with India in joint production of essential drugs for fighting HIV Aids and malaria.

Both sides also stressed the importance of re-launching the India-Brazil CEOs Forum, a decision taken in the form of declaration at the Summit level in March 2012. They also agreed that the proposed meeting of the two Co-chairs of CEOs Forum would be a positive step in taking this initiative forward.

Indian side also sought for an early meeting of the existing joint working group in hydrocarbon sector to move this area of bilateral cooperation on faster track.

A MoU between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), through National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the National Institute of Metrology (INMETRO), Brazil was also signed for scientific and technological cooperation in chemistry, physics, engineering measurement sciences, development of certified reference materials for thermo physics properties, nanometrology, analysis of surface and thin films, biofuels, and biotechnology.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide a framework for the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge services and the enhancement of scientific and technical capabilities of the two sides in the areas of chemistry, physics, and engineering measurement sciences. (ANI)