New Delhi: Executive Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez, who is here with a large delegation, believes that both India and Venezuela need to increase their economic and commercial bond in order to strengthen the relationship.
Speaking to ANI during the 9th CII India - LAC Conclave today, the Minister said that the Latin American country is participating with a "big delegation" and that she is "very happy" to be in India. “Venezuela is participating with a big delegation in this important economic meeting. We bring the message from President Maduro and from our people also to strengthen our bonds between India and our region, Latin America and the Caribbean. So we are very happy to be in India right now”, Rodriguez said. “We have to increase our economic bond and commercial also. As you know we have traded with India. We have imports of medicines, chemicals. We have bilateral meetings with bilateral agenda to strengthen our relationship”, she added.
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When asked about the areas of discussion during her India visit, the Minister said that all the areas including oil will be discussed. Executive Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez arrived in India on Wednesday to participate in the ninth Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) India-LAC Conclave which is being held in the national capital on August 3 and 4.
Delcy Rodríguez took to her Twitter and said that the conclave will be held between India, Latin America and the Caribbean. “We have arrived in India, a world power, on behalf of President @NicolasMaduro to participate in the IX Economic Conclave between India, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as to attend to an important bilateral agenda that benefits our peoples!”
Last year, India and Venezuela held the fourth round of Foreign Office consultations in Caracas.
During the meeting, the two sides reviewed bilateral ties and exchanged views on different sectors, including politics, trade, energy, health, pharmaceuticals, Ayurveda and Yoga, agriculture, culture and science and technology. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India and Venezuela have maintained cordial relations. The two nations celebrated the establishment of diplomatic ties in 2009. Resident Embassies have been in Caracas and New Delhi for more than three decades and “there is mutual goodwill and cooperation between the two countries including in multilateral fora.”
Addressing the conclave on Thursday, Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar said that the ties between India and Latin American and Caribbean region have moved on a new trajectory in the last nine years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also highlighted the surging bilateral trade between and the growing people-to-people connections between India and the Latin America and Caribbean region.
Jaishankar highlighted that the bilateral trade between the two regions has surged to 50 billion USD during the financial year 2022-23, which is a testament to both, “the strength and the potential” of our economic partnership.
“It is worth noting that India’s exports to Brazil are worth 10 billion USD, which is twice what we export to Japan. Similarly, our exports to Mexico are in excess of 5 billion USD which is more than our exports to Canada. With the Dominican Republic, our exports were 329 million USD last year, and many Asian countries have still not reached that level,” Jaishankar said .
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He added, “Latin America has capabilities in producing and supplying raw materials. The region is a big source of gold and copper. And also for gold. India's gold imports from the region last year stood in excess of six and a half billion dollars. And these were mainly from Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Mexico and Chile was a main supplier of copper”.
The External Affairs Minister also highlighted four pillars as the source of intensified engagement between India and Latin America, namely; Supply Chain diversity, resource partnership, sharing of developmental experiences and addressing global challenges.
“Number one is ‘supply chain diversity’. The pandemic has shown us that today there is an urgent global need for more resilience and reliability in the supply chain. The international economy needs more redundant sourcing and more diversified production,” Jaishankar said.
He added, “Second is resource partnerships. PM Modi has put forward the ambition of becoming the third-largest economy in his next term. You can already see the rising demand for oil, gas, and minerals, and we see this as really a big opportunity for our partners in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Jaishankar said that the other two pillars are the sharing of developmental experiences and addressing of global challenges.
“As countries of the Global South we can surely benefit, we can actually benefit if we talk to each other about digital capabilities, health solutions, agricultural practices. Increasing training and exchanges will encourage more market exposure,” he said.
Jaishankar added, “The fourth pillar is addressing global challenges. There are larger issues, global issues, and planetary issues, that we also need to look at. And collaborating on issues such as Climate Change, concerns of the Global South, reforming the global financial and multilateral structures”. —ANI