NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday left on a nine-day visit to Latin America to participate in the 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Cuba and the first-ever summit meeting of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) forum in Brasilia next week.

Dr. Singh's visit to Brazil will also include a bilateral component, the first by an Indian Prime Minister anywhere in South America since 1968.

In a brief departure statement, Dr. Singh said he intended to consolidate the "extremely positive trend" in bilateral relations with Brazil, which, he described, was one of India's major partners in Latin America.

"I hope to discuss a wide range of issues, including adding content to our political and economic interactions and cooperation in defence, agriculture and energy security," he said.

Brazil and India enjoyed an excellent tradition of cooperation in international fora, he pointed out. The IBSA meeting will see Dr. Singh sitting down with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in the first meeting at that level in the three years of the forum's inception.

"The IBSA has already emerged as a shining example of South-South Cooperation," he said.

Among the topics of "global concern" that India intended to raise were energy security, international terrorism and the challenges of sustainable and equitable development.

Dr. Singh will fly to Havana for the NAM summit on September 15 and 16.

"As a founding member of this great movement", said Dr. Singh, "India will play its part in helping NAM to revitalise itself so as to pursue the shared interests of its member states in a transformed world."

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