Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero met in New Delhi with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, with whom he celebrated the growth of trade between the two countries and promised to continue working on its “intensification and diversification,” official sources reported Sunday.
Cafiero also delivered an invitation from President Alberto Fernández to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Argentina, as a way of highlighting the “priority” assigned to the bilateral relationship and the “possibilities of expanding joint work.”
I delivered the invitation you made @alferdez to the Prime Minister @narendramodi to visit Argentina.
We have a tremendous opportunity to enhance the relationship between India and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. pic.twitter.com/Zn7T5VtBLt
– Santiago Cafiero (@SantiagoCafiero) April 24, 2022
The ministers reviewed the international situation and the perspectives of the G20, which is in charge of Indonesia during 2022, and which will be followed by India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024, which opens a continuity of emerging countries that could shift world attention to the needs of the countries of the global south and strengthen global solidarity in mitigating the impacts of climate change and promoting sustainable development.
Along these lines, the possibilities to “promote a greater relationship” between India and CELAC, where Argentina holds the pro tempore presidency, were also highlighted.
India is Argentina’s fourth trading partner and “it has increased its trade by 74% during 2021. Argentina seeks to diversify its export offer in this country, just as India seeks to increase its exports in our nation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Both foreign ministers agreed to “continue deepening the Strategic Association through the convening of meetings of the different bilateral institutional mechanisms and the negotiations of the pending agreements.”
In particular, they agreed to promote the “increasing cooperation in defense, nuclear and space issues and Information and Communication Technology (ICTs)”.
Cafiero referred to the radioisotope plant built by Invap in Mumbai, which will serve to spread Argentine capabilities as a producer and exporter of applications in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
