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India-Latin America trade at $46 bn, but below potential: Sushma
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SME Times News Bureau | 10 Oct, 2015
Trade between India and the
Latin American and Caribbean region has shown impressive growth -
standing at $46 billion - up from $2 billion in 2000, said External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj but said while the growth in impressive,
it is not commensurate with the potential that exists.
In an
address to Latin American dignitaries, she said that India has a
Preferential Trade Agreement with MERCOSUR (South America's leading
trading bloc, known as the Common Market of the South) and with Chile.
"Our investment is estimated to be around $20 billion, principally in IT sector, automobile parts, mining and hydrocarbons.
"While
the figures I have quoted may seem impressive, I firmly believe that
the level of trade and investment between India and LAC countries is not
commensurate with the potential that exists," she said at an event
attended by dignitaries from Costa Rica, Uruguay, Cuba, Guatemala,
Mexico and Nicaragua.
She said the "Latin American region offers a
market for Indian products such as pharmaceuticals, leather, automobile
parts, engineering goods, textile, Information Technology among others.
On the other hand, the LAC region offers oil and gas, minerals and
metals, cereals, pulses, oil seeds, soya, fresh fruits and many other
products".
"It is clear that our economies complement each other.
We must find ways to fully utilize the opportunities that exist between
us as a result of these complementarities. Geographical distance should
not be a barrier in this, especially in the age of globalization and
new technology," she said at an India-LAC Conclave organized by industry
chamber CII.
Sushma Swaraj invited the Latin American and
Caribbean countries to participate in the initiatives of the government,
like Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, 100 Smart Cities
project and Clean Ganga Mission.
She said India has held
interactions at the ministerial level with the three major regional
groupings, namely, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
(CELAC), Central American Integration System (SICA), and Caribbean
Community (CARICOM).
"Last week, I had the opportunity to
interact with the foreign ministers of CARICOM countries and CELAC
Quartet Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of UNGA in New York," she
said.
She raised three issues, of terrorism, climate change and reform of the UN Security Council.
On
terrorism, she sought their support for the Comprehensive Convention
on International Terrorism at the UN. On climate change, she said India
has already announced its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions
(INDCs) on climate change and "we hope that a comprehensive, balanced
and equitable agreement will be reached at COP-21 in Paris later this
year".
On reform of the UN Security Council, she said expansion
of the UNSC in both the permanent and non-permanent categories is an
imperative.
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