India, Argentina ramp up trade ties

FIEO participated as an associate partner in the Business Summit and B2B Meeting with a high powered business delegation from Argentina on May 11, 2013 at Noida. The meeting was organized by the Indian Industries Association (IIA), Noida Chapter, in association with NSIC, FIEO, SBI, ZDH and CitiBank NA among others. The delegation was led by Mr C.P.N. Claudio Javier Poggi, Governor, San Luis, Argentina. Dr Sergio Lais-Suarez, Counsel General of India in Argentina along with various ministers, mayors, chairman of industry associations and industry representatives were part of the delegation. The objective of the B2B Meeting was to explore business prospects of sale and purchase of products and services through joint ventures, technology acquisition etc. The delegations business interests were in mining machinery, electronics, food products, industrial goods, solar panels, spices, salt, software, pulses, wines, juices, IT and IT products etc. Dr Lais-Suarez said Argentina is the third largest economy in the Latin American region and is an emerging business hub for investment in various sectors. He informed that San Luis is a province which has been driving important socio-economic growth for decades. Its outstanding development in recent decades is directly related to the Governments initiatives to design and implement policies aimed at the promotion and settlement of industries. Mr Ashish Jain, Joint Director, FIEO, apprised the delegation about FIEO and its role in international trade promotion. He also discussed the idea of taking a multi-product business delegation to Argentina for which Dr Sergio assured his full support and cooperation. In order strengthen international relations Argentina recently opened the San Luis Commercial, Tourism and Cultural office in Chennai, India, which would be headed by its Director, Mr Adriel Dalgaard Knott. The main objective of opening this office is to provide foreign trade assistance and support to Indian and San Luis companies aiming at introducing and trading their products in both regions. Mr R. Vishwanathan, Former Ambassador of India to Argentina, was also present. He suggested taking the business delegations to other Latin American countries such as Colombia and Peru as well. A large number of exporters keen on trading with Argentina had B2B meetings with the delegates.

Indias exports to Argentina increased from $473 million in the year 2011-12 to $539 million in 2012-13, showing a percentage growth of 13.92%.