There's some way to go for bilateral trade to touch $10 billion by 2010; meanwhile the partnership must forge ahead in non-trade areas too. The fact that India-Brazil co-operation has great potential and a bright future is strongly suggested by the fact that the two countries are forces to reckon with in the world of cricket and football, respectively. In fact, this is said to have been a point of discussion during the recent visit of President Pratibha Patil to Brazil, and there are plans to make co-operation in these areas a success. But, as in most spheres, much hard work is needed before either a Brazilian cricket outfit or an Indian football team can make its mark on the world scene, a reality that applies with perhaps even more force in the less exciting areas of bilateral trade and co-operation generally. Indeed, heightened India-Brazil economic engagement has been increasing in importance with the emergence of a bloc of sorts in international forums, that has provided much-needed leadership to the developing countries in the ongoing WTO negotiations on the Doha Round. The latest phase of bilateral co-operation has led to the signing of four treaties, including one on extradition and another on oil and natural gas. Two working groups are also planned for the implementation of accords on agriculture and oil and natural gas. Clearly, the scope for mutual investment co-operation is immense, in both the private and public sectors. One such sphere is oil exploration, where ONGC and Petrobras have broken new ground with the help of last year's accord on the swapping of offshore blocks. The Brazilian company's expertise in deepwater operations can profitably be used by ONGC for its own offshore work. Already, stakes have been offered on a reciprocal basis. As indicated by the Brazilian President, Mr Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, when he visited India last year, infrastructure is another sector in which Indian companies can effectively participate in view of the huge investment programmes drawn up by the Brazilian Government. Brazil is a world leader in ethanol production technology and exports, a sector that is promising for Indian investors wanting to operate in Brazil but which has also thrown up problems with regard to exports of the product to India because of the feared impact on the Indian sugar industry. During the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to Brazil in 2006, the ties between the two countries were upgraded to the level of a "strategic partnership', one of the goals being to attain the $10-billion mark by 2010 in bilateral trade. Last year's trade figure of $3 billion means a lot more has to be done to translate that vision into reality. In the meantime, the partnership must forge ahead in such non-trade areas as multilateral trade, climate negotiations and restructuring of the UN, where an indelible mark has already been made on the world stage.