‘Lithium Triangle’ welcomes Indian companies

There is a lot of potential for expanding trade between India and the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) region, riding on the strong 20-fold increase to US$39 billion in 2018 from US$2 billion in 2002.

This prospect was given by G.V. Srinivas, Joint Secretary (LAC), Ministry of External Affairs, at the ‘Industry Interaction on India-LAC Trade and Investment’ which was organized by FICCI with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on 11 June 2019.

Indian exports were around US$13 billion and imports US$26 billion in 2018, he said.

Both LAC countries and India have witnessed encouraging growth in recent years “though a lot of potential yet remains untapped”, he added.

Many leads have emerged from the recent interactions India had with the region including ‘Lithium Triangle’ of Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, noted Srinivas.

The ‘Lithium Triangle’, he said, is welcoming Indian companies to join in the value chain and Bolivia inviting Indian pharmaceutical companies to set up cancer drug manufacturing plant.

James Scriven, CEO, IDB Invest, a private sector arm of IDB Group committed to supporting the private sector in LAC, expressed his optimism on various opportunities for the Indian companies.

IDB Invest would explore the possibilities of Indian companies engaging in the LAC region, he assured.

“We have about US$3.5 billion in assets under management with total assets around US$12 billion. We have in our assets about 400 projects,” said Scriven.

He further added that there are enormous opportunities for further collaboration between India and Latin American countries which together has a combined GDP of US$8.4 trillion and combined population of over 2 billion.

Scriven highlighted that the three areas which characterize the trade relations between India and LAC region can be converted as opportunities such as geographical concentration, goods concentration and low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Devin Narang, FICCI Senior Executive Committee Member and Country Head-India, Sindicatum Carbon Capital India Pvt Ltd, disclosed that the Indian government is planning some ministerial delegations to the region and even FICCI is planning trade delegations in those countries.

Dilip Chenoy, FICCI Secretary General, pointed out that India’s engagement with the LAC region is important because of the abundance of natural resources in the region and also its strategic location.

India is working along with LAC countries in multilateral forums like WTO to express the concerns of developing countries in an effective way, he added. fiinews.com