The economic outcome of EAM Jaishankar’s visit to Argentina

History of India-Argentina Economic Relations

India-Argentina historically shares a cordial and multifaceted relationship encompassing high cooperation in economics, technology, science, commerce, agriculture, and politics. In 1943, India opened its first office of the trade commission, which was later converted into India’s first embassy in the Latin American nation. However, Argentina-India relations advanced to the level of the strategic partnership with the former Argentinian president’s Indian visit in 2019. Consequently, in the financial year 2019-2020, trade between both nations reached a historical peak of USD 3.09 billion, increasing 22.74% more than the accounting year 2018-2019. Moreover, despite the global disruption due to the pandemic and pandemic-induced global inflation, the India-Argentina trade relationship strengthened and reached a historical peak of 5.07 billion in 2021, making India the fourth largest trading partner in the year. In addition, several companies of Indian origin, such as -Infosys, TCS, Crisil, Bajaj Motorcycle, Royal Enfield, Godrej, and many more, have established their operation in the Latin American nation. Furthermore, along similar lines to the previous meetings, the recent meeting between H.E. Dr S. Jaishankar and H.E Santiago Cafiero has reaffirmed their commitment to further diversify, deepen, and expand their bilateral relationship by broadening their strategic cooperation to include climate change and terrorism while retaining their primary focus on the advancement of their economic relationship.

Recent Meeting

On August 25, the External Affairs Minister of India, H.E. Dr S. Jaishankar, paid a formal visit to Argentina, on his first visit to the South American continent, upon the invitation of its Minister of Foreign Affairs International Trade and worship, H.E. Santiago Cafiero. During the visit, the ministers chaired the JCM (Joint Commission Meeting) and embraced the strategic partnership founded on shared values and principles of Rule of Law, Democracy, Sovereignty, and Integrity.

Key Highlights of the meet

• Both parties agreed to diversify their trade basket to achieve balanced and equitable trade growth.
• Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to further broadening their bilateral relationship in the post-pandemic and post-Russian &Ukraine conflict world.
• Both parties agreed to request their respective central banks to develop a local currency payment mechanism.
• Both leaders discussed food and energy security post-Russian Ukrainian crisis.
• Both ministers also discussed enhancing cooperation in the Defense, Nuclear and Energy sectors.
• Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to the UN Charter and stressed comprehensive reforms in the United Nations Security Council in the changing world.

Outcome

During the visit, both sides showed satisfaction at the current pace of the bilateral trade relationship. India is Argentina’s one of the top trading partners, constituting vital exporting and importing items like organic chemicals, petroleum oils, gas, bulk drugs, two-wheelers, cereals, finished leather, residual chemicals, vegetable oils and yarn fabric.

During the bilateral meeting, both parties agreed to accelerate market access negotiations and diversify their trade basket to deepen and develop a balanced trade growth. In addition, to encourage companies to engage in bilateral trade, both sides agreed to request their respective central banks to develop a local payment mechanism to avoid any economic debacle. Furthermore, both parties emphasized the ease of doing business to encourage the private sectors to invest in each other’s nations. And while acknowledging the prowess of Pharmaceuticals in both nations, the ministers agreed to encourage investments and trade in the Pharma sector; moreover, both discussed the first bilateral conference on the Pharma sector to promote cooperation in the domain.

In the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict-induced energy crisis, both sides discussed cooperation in the energy field. Since Argentina is home to a massive deposit of conventional and shale gas and oil, both sides agreed to expedite agreements on the Indian investment in specific areas, as per the Argentinian legislation. And at the end, both the ministers agreed to engage actively to address any issues, especially of economic nature, to deepen the bilateral and multi-lateral relationship further.