Brazil and India recently held a meeting to review bilateral ties and discuss political dialogue. Brazilian Minister of External Relations Mauro Vieira made an official visit to India on Thursday in the middle of the current issues facing the BRICS association (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), Fox News Latino reported.

Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, said at a media briefing that Vieira co-chaired the 7th India-Brazil Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) together with his Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj, Business Standard noted.

"Both ministers underscored the importance of the JCM mechanism in deepening political dialogue, reviewing bilateral ties and exchanging views on regional and multilateral cooperation," the spokesperson said.

According to Swarup, Brazil and India's strategic partnership was established in 2006 and has strengthened the two nations' close cooperation in BRICS, IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa), G4, G20, BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China), and the broader multilateral context of the United Nations, the news outlet listed.

He added that Brazil and India's partnership is founded on a common global vision, shared democratic values, and a commitment to cultivate economic growth and social inclusion for the benefit of the countries' people. In addition, both ministers agreed that "there should be a mechanism at a senior officer's level to hold foreign office consultations, to take stock of the bilateral cooperation, regional and multilateral issues," Swarup noted, as reported by Business Standard.

The two ministers reviewed the economic and trade relations and acknowledged that there is great potential for further growth and a diverse bilateral trade. Both leaders think that this unutilized potential should be developed.

"The trade figures show a total turnover for 2014 increasing by over 20 percent to $11,42 billion, India advancing from 12th to eighth among Brazil's top trading partners," Swarup noted, as quoted by Business Standard.

Vieira said that trade must be diversified and should not only focus on energy products and other commodities with prices that have plunged sharply, Fox News Latino further reported.

"If we took into consideration the prices from two years ago, the total value of trade between India and Brazil would be even higher. Now it's significant, but it suffers from the impact of fluctuations in the prices of raw materials," Vieira continued, as quoted by Fox News Latino.

He said that Brazil wishes to boost cooperation in areas such as information technology, a subject that India has already excelled in globally. As for the slowdown impinging on several BRICS economies, Vieira said that it is "temporary," a "reflection of global difficulties," and that Brazil and India both have economies that have "solid foundation," the news outlet noted.