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Argentina to Partner with India on Food Security

May 24, 2018

World Trade Centre Mumbai organised an interactive meeting in honour of H. E. Mr. Daniel Chuburu, Ambassador of Republic of Argentina. H. E. Mr. Chuburu said, India and Argentina must focus on strengthening strategic relations and co-operation in areas such as agriculture, atomic energy, space research and aviation (radar technologies), mining (lithium, gold and copper), tourism, infrastructure and traditional medicine such as AYUSH. Currently, 90% of Argentina’s exports to India comprise only soya oil and we are working to diversify this trade basket. We have plans to set up a new institutional mechanism, where the Embassy of Argentina will soon launch a bilateral chamber for agro-products and agro-services in New Delhi and its first centre will be opened in Mumbai”.

H. E. Mr. Chuburu further remarked, “I have chosen Maharashtra for my first official tour after assuming office, since many Argentine companies are located in this state and there is scope to strengthen bilateral relationship. Both our Governments are discussing the possibility of launching direct flight service and it is also working on code sharing agreement”.

H. E. Mr. Chuburu said Argentina has developed cutting-edge farm technologies which can help India improve agriculture productivity and reduce post-harvest losses.

H. E. Mr. Chuburu informed that the Government of Argentina has opened the mining sector for FDI. Lithium is the major raw material for batteries used in electric cars and India has set a goal to shift to manufacture electric vehicles on a large scale by 2030.

The Ambassador invited Indian companies to explore investment opportunities in the newly discovered reserves of shale gas and shale oil.

Further the Ambassador mentioned that cinema is another key focus area for Argentina, where there is scope to go beyond establishing Argentina as a shooting location for Bollywood. There are plans to popularise football in India by bringing coaches and players from Argentina.

Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, World Trade Centre Mumbai said, “Currently, bilateral trade stands at USD 2.78 billion and I expect it to double in the next five years. Indian government is very keen to strengthen business partnership with Argentina as many Indian businessmen are exploring investment opportunities there”.

Top Photo - (L-R): Mr. Y. R. Warerkar, Ms. Andrea Alba Gonzalez, H. E. Mr. Daniel Chuburu, Ms. Rupa Naik, Mr. Vijay Kalantri and Mr. Alejandro Zothner Meyer.

Below Photo – (L-R): H.E. Mr. Daniel Chuburu addressing the audience. Also seen is Ms. Andrea Alba Gonzalez.