India Inc. heads for Latin America to boost trade
Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Top Indian companies are visiting Brazil next week to push trade and investment ties with a major trading block in the region that has a population of 200 million and gross domestic product of $1 trillion. A 40-member delegation of India Inc. and senior government officers is visiting Rio de Janerio on June 9 to exploit a preferential trade agreement that was signed with a Latin American trade group this January, officials said Monday. The trade group, Mercosur, comprises Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Chile and Bolivia as associate members. These countries have been identified by India as markets that can help expand its stagnant export base. Some of the companies represented on the delegation include Oil and Natural Gas Corp., Reliance Industries, Tata Infotech, Aptech, MMTC, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and the Shipping Corporation of India. Among other engagements, the business delegation will be participating at the Forum on Regionalism and South-South Cooperation, led by Y.K. Modi, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). The forum will be a platform for India and the Latin American countries on South-South cooperation and investment promotion, as also to discuss issues of common interest in multilateral forums such as the World Trade Organization. It will also provide inputs for the Eleventh Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad-XI) in Sao Paolo June 13-18 where Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath will represent India. Senior officials from the ministries of commerce and industries, health, petroleum and culture, and the India Trade Promotion Organization are also scheduled to attend the daylong meeting in Rio de Janeiro. The forum is scheduled to discuss the finer points of the Indo-Mercosur trade agreement and identify the items of imports and exports that will be eligible for a preferential tariff treatment, officials said. The forum will also identify potential areas for increased trade between India and Mercosur, the opportunities for further concessions and explore cooperation on infrastructure-related projects, including those in third countries. These apart, it will also provide inputs for the launch of a revitalized Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP) that seeks to promote and sustain mutual trade and economic cooperation. "The outcome of this event will constitute an important input into the debates at Unctad XI - in particular, the interactive session on 'Assuring Development Gains from the International Trading System and Trade Negotiations," the secretariat said. India's bilateral trade with Mercosur countries is quite low but has been growing rapidly over the past couple of years. The two-way trade was in the region of $1.4 billion in 2001-02, but exports more than over a three-year period from $317 million in 1999-2000 to 2001-2002 to $ 626 million in 2001-02. Brazil and Argentina account for more than 95 percent of India's exports to Mercosur with a negligible presence in Uruguay and Paraguay.
Source: IANS
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