Brasilia, November 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro here and the two leaders discussed a range of issues, including ways to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the areas of economy, connectivity and people-to-people ties.

Prime minister Modi met Bolsonaro on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS summit held here to focus on building mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation and strengthen India's ties with the world's five major economies. The two leaders spoke about diversifying cooperation for the benefit of people and discussed ways to enhance the bilateral strategic partnership. Children's Day India 2019: PM Narendra Modi Pays Tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on His Birth Anniversary.

"Met President Jair Bolsonaro on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Brazil. Grateful to him and the people of Brazil for hosting the Summit. During our talks today, we discussed furthering cooperation in areas pertaining to the economy, connectivity and people-to-people ties," Modi said in a tweet.

The two leaders held "fruitful" discussions on how to give further boost to the strategic partnership between the countries based on common global vision and shared values. Prime Minister Modi invited Bolsonaro to the Republic Day, 2020. The Brazilian President has accepted the invitation with pleasure, according to an official statement.

"Both leaders agreed that on this occasion, the two countries can comprehensively enhance our strategic partnership," it said. Modi said that he looked forward to discussing matters relating to trade. He also outlined areas for potential investment from Brazil, including in areas of agricultural equipment, animal husbandry, post-harvest technologies and biofuels, the statement said.

The Brazilian President expressed his readiness and informed Prime Minister Modi that a large business delegation will accompany him to India, it said, adding that the two leaders also discussed other areas of cooperation including space and defence sectors. Modi also welcomed the decision of the President to grant visa-free travel to Indian citizens.

The two leaders are meeting over four months after they met in Osaka, Japan for the two-day G20 Summit during which Modi congratulated Bolsonaro on being elected as the President of Brazil and welcomed him in the BRICS family. Modi and Bolsonaro held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral relationship, specially cooperation in trade and investment, agriculture and bio-fuels in the context of climate change, deepening the "close and multifaceted" strategic partnership.

The Brazilian President, who was elected in January, announced last month that Indian tourists would be exempted from visas to enter Brazil for tourism or business. "There will be no reciprocity in the beginning. (The) US, Australia, Japan and Canada are already exempt from short-term tourist and business visas. The next country should be India," he was quoted as saying by Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.

Last week, media reports in New Delhi said that Prime Minister Modi, during his two-day visit to Brazil, may invite Bolsonaro to be the chief guest at Republic Day celebrations next year, in a bid to expand India's outreach to South America.