In the eight years that I held the presidency of the Republic of Brazil (2003-2010), I met with dozens of world leaders at bilateral meetings and during many multilateral engagements that have come to characterise the world of intense diplomatic activities in recent decades.
Few personalities impressed me as much as Manmohan Singh.
One of the first foreign policy initiatives of my government, in 2003, was, along with Manmohan, the creation of the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa). It is a coalition that brought together three large democracies from three different continents to promote economic and social development, world peace and multilateralism. In addition to the historical ties that bind us with Africa, Brazil started to lend great importance to its relations with India—a distant and large country with which we have been increasingly finding close affinity, despite the cultural differences between us.
We had many other opportunities to meet, collaborate and work together. We interacted at the G8 summit, to which India and Brazil were invited, along with China and Russia. Then we formed the BRICS group, which later included South Africa. And, finally, we met at the G20, when the 2008 financial crisis rocked the global economy and at the same time showed the strength of emerging countries. We ceased to be a problem. We became a solution.
In all these opportunities, in addition to the visits I made to India, I had the privilege to work closely with Manmohan. At first glance, he appears to be a reserved figure, almost enigmatic, with his blue turban, but I found that the prime minister of India was not only an economist with an acute insight into the problems of his country and the world at large, but also a man with enormous human qualities, which one realises slowly, as he is a soft-spoken man with a very polite smile, but who always made a very meaningful speech.
These traits of his personality were no barrier to a friendly approach. On the contrary. I can’t forget the attention I received—from him, from his government and from Sonia Gandhi—when I was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 2007 and the Indira Gandhi Prize in 2012. I also can’t forget the personal messages that Manmohan sent me in recent years when I faced serious health problems.
Now, as he withdraws from political activity, Manmohan becomes a moral force for his country and an important international reference for all those seeking progressive alternatives to a difficult economic and political situation in today’s world.
For me, I always appreciate the human dimension of political leaders with whom I worked. Manmohan Singh is and will be a companion and friend with whom I had the privilege and pleasure of working together to bring Brazil and India closer.
(Translated from the Portuguese by Shobhan Saxena)
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010
