NEW DELHI: The government is planning to invite Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as the chief guest to Republic Day celebrations next year, expanding its outreach to South America. India and Brazil are working on finalising what could be Bolsonaro’s maiden trip to India as President, said people aware of the matter.If the trip is finalised, Bolsonaro would be the third Brazilian President to be invited for Republic Day celebrations, after Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1996 and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2004.The plan to invite the Brazilian President comes as India is in the process of expanding its ties with South America through high-level visits and meetings. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Bolsonaro were present at the Future Investment Initiative business forum in Riyadh last week as Brazil is increasingly viewing Asia as a trade and investment partner. Earlier this year, the Argentinian President visited India and Modi and the President of Chile held a number of meetings on the sidelines of multilateral events.Brazil under Bolsonaro has not only announced visa-free entry for Indians but also strengthened the counterterrorism agenda of BRICS and helped revive the India, Brazil, South Africa (IBSA) grouping, much to India’s satisfaction. Prime Minister Modi will travel to Brazil for the BRICS Summit on November 13-14. This will be his second visit to Brazil, after he attended the BRICS Summit there in 2014.The theme of 11th BRICS Summit is ‘BRICS: economic growth for an innovative future’. The priorities of BRICS under Brazil’s leadership are strengthening of the cooperation in science, technology and innovation; enhancement of the cooperation in digital economy; invigoration of the cooperation in the fight against transnational crime, especially against organised crime, money laundering and drug traffic; and encouragement to the rapprochement between the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Business Council.Brazil is among India’s most important trading partners of India in the entire LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) region. India-Brazil bilateral trade has increased substantially over the years, growing 34.71% year-on-year to $7.6 billion in 2017, the highest growth among Brazil’s top 10 trading partners. India’s exports to Brazil and imports from Brazil stood at $2.94 billion and $4.66 billion respectively. While Brazilian companies have invested in automobiles, IT, mining, energy, biofuels, and footwear sectors in India, Indian companies have invested in sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals, energy, agri-business, mining, engineering and automobiles.