Essays

The India, Brazil, South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum is an international tripartite grouping for promoting international cooperation among these countries. The grouping represents three important poles for greater understanding between three important continents of the developing world namely, Asia, South America and Africa. The Forum plays an important role in galvanizing South-South cooperation and provides the three countries with a platform to engage in discussions for cooperation in various fields including agriculture, trade, culture, and defence. In fact, the Forum has become instrumental for promoting ever closer coordination on global issues between three large multicultural and multiracial democracies of the developing world.

The origin of the IBSA Dialogue Forum lay in the failure of the Cancun Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), after which the developing countries felt the need to strengthen their cooperation in trade, investment and economic diplomacy. A new approach for South-South cooperation was spearheaded by the leaders of three regional goliaths at the 2003 UN General Assembly Forum. Resulting in a trilateral India-Brazil-South Africa agreement. On 6 June 2003, foreign ministers of India, Brazil and South Africa met in Brasilia and adopted the ‘Brasilia’ Declaration' to formalize the IBSA Dialogue Forum.

The Brasilia Declaration called for removing protectionist policies and trade distorting practices by improving (lie multilateral trade system. It called for extensive tripartite cooperation on strategic, commercial and cultural affairs, development of a tripartite free trade agreement and a united front in negotiating with Western nations in the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling for reform of the UN Security Council and supporting each other's bid for permanent membership with veto rights. It also touched upon (lie subjects of international terrorism, transnational crime and illegal arms dealing, stating that such threats to international peace must effectively tackled with respect for the sovereignty of States and for International Law.

The Declaration also highlights the need for promoting family-run farms, food security, health, education, human rights and environmental protection. They recalled that social empowerment makes better use of human potential, contributing to economic development in a significant manner. The Ministers highlighted their priorities on promotion of social equity and inclusive growth by reiterating the need for tackling hunger and poverty by means of effective implementation of government schemes. The ministers also stressed the importance of elimination of racial discrimination and gender bias while framing public policies.

The objectives of the IBSA Dialogue Forum are to promote South- South cooperation and build consensus on issues of international importance. The Forum also aims at increasing the trade opportunities among the three countries, as well as to facilitate the trilateral exchange of information, technologies and skills to complement each other's strengths. It promotes the international poverty alleviation and social development with main focus being on equitable development. It also aims to explore avenues to promote cooperation in broad range of areas which include agriculture, climate change, culture, defence, education, energy, health, information society, science and technology, social development, trade and investment, tourism and transport.

In the field of agriculture, a Joint Development Project has been undertaken in Guinea Bissau. The project aims to improve production. Promote and develop small-scale agro-industry. It also seeks to improve and diversify horticultural crops. In education, three major areas of cooperation have been identified for collaboration. India, Brazil and South Africa will host Round Table Conference on the themes of universal education, higher and professional education, and open and distance education respectively. Similarly, in the field of science and technology, while India is the lead country for research cooperation on HIV/AIDS and Nanotechnology, Brazil is the lead country on Malaria and Oceanography, and South Africa is the lead country on Tuberculosis and Biotechnology.

The first meeting of the Trilateral Commission of the IBSA Dialogue Forum was held in March 2004 in New Delhi. They issued a New Delhi agenda for cooperation which highlighted UN reforms, peace and security, and social development. The second meeting of the Trilateral Commission of the IRSA Dialogue Forum held in March 2005 in Cape Town discussed Millennium review summit, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Latin and South American integration, and cooperation in the WTO multilateral trade negotiations. The ministers reviewed the working of sectoral working groups and decided to add two new sectors namely, agriculture and culture. The ministers welcomed the launch of IBSA Business Council, which would work in tandem with the Working Group jointly in the areas such as Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises.

The third meeting of the Trilateral Commission of the IBSA Dialogue Forum was held in March 2006 in Rio de Janeiro. The issues raised and discussed were the UN Security Council reforms, non- proliferation, disarmament and arms control, and international trade. Under the IBSA facility fund for hunger and poverty alleviation, the ministers received and accepted the recommendations of Technical Monitoring Committee (TMC) to Guinea Bissau. With respect to IBSA sectoral cooperation, the member countries made a pledge to promote the production and use ofbiofuels as a clean and ecofriendly alternative.  The delegations attending the IBSA trade and investment forum

 Suggested substitution of imports from northern countries by imports from southern countries to strengthen the South-South union. Logistics, custom procedures, lack of information and distances were identified a main barriers which needed to be eliminated for the trilateral trade to flourish.

The increasing intensity of cooperation between the three countries resulted in the first IBSA Summit which was held in Brazil in September '006 hosted by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. South African President Thabo Mbeki hosted the second IBSA Summit at Pretoria in October 2007 followed by the third and fourth IBSA Summits at New Delhi and Brasilia in October 2008 and April 2010 respectively. South Africa will host the fifth IBSA Summit.

The IBSA Summits have resulted in the signing of the following agreements and Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs): MoU on Agriculture and Allied Fields; MoU on Biofuels; Agreement on Merchant Shipping and Other Maritime Transport Matters; Action Plan on Trade Facilitation for Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment; and MoU Framework for Cooperation on the Information Society. Besides pledging to boost trilateral trade to US $15 billion by 2010, the three nations have also expanded military cooperation and conducted joint naval exercises in 2008.

Besides the Summit at the highest level, the IBSA Dialogue Forum Facilitates regular consultations at senior officials' level as well as amongst academics, intellectuals and other members of the civil society. Thus, it is a new endeavour to challenge the international system by pivotal Middle Powers through peaceful convincing, instead of other means.