New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) Hailing growing ties with India, Argentina's Ambassador Mariano Caucino on Monday highlighted that the trade partnership between both countries has increased to over USD six billion now. Speaking to IANS, Caucino mentioned that the economies of India and Argentina complement each other and both countries continue to work on achieving various goals after elevating bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.
"The relationship between the two countries is very good. Today, Argentina and India are enjoying a more than USD six billion trade relationship. Currently, India has become our sixth-largest partner after Brazil, which is our main economic partner, China, the US, the European Union community and Chile. We are working extremely well and both economies complement each other," he said at the sidelines of an event held in New Delhi to pay homage and commemorate General Jose de San Martin.
He noted that Argentina is a founding member of Mercosur and said that there is a consensus among members to work together with India to expand the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
"Argentina is a founding member of Mercosur which is an economic trade bloc organised between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. So, in order to make that type of agreement, we need to do it together with the other countries of Mercosur. There is a general good level of consensus among the members in order to work together with India to expand the current agreement that we have, a preferential trade agreement that has to be expanded because it's limited to a number of products. But, I'm optimistic in that sense," said Ambassador Caucino.
Mercosur is a trading bloc which has six member countries of Latin America, with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay being the founding members, Venezuela joining in 2012 and Bolivia's incorporation being agreed to by all five members in 2015. The negotiations on the India-Mercosur PTA were concluded in 2005, and the agreement has been operational since June 2009.
Caucino also paid tribute to Jose de San Martin - one of Latin America's biggest heroes - describing him as one of the most important people in the history of South America and Argentina.
"We are paying tribute to General San Martin, our national hero. It's an anniversary of his extraordinary leadership. San Martin was a hero of Argentina and also the liberator of Peru and Chile. He's one of the most important people in the history of South America and our national hero. So, that's why we are doing this event. It's very important to do it here in India, a country that has been and is still an example of struggle for freedom, and for liberty."
Commenting on the ongoing West Asia conflict, the Ambassador emphasised that the Middle East has been a troubled area for many years, where several conflicts have taken place. He expressed hope that some progress can be achieved and the Middle East nations can have some functional relationships.
"Middle East has been a troubled area of the world for many years, and unfortunately, it's probably this will continue. It's a region of the world in which there is no such thing as one conflict, but a number of conflicts overlapping one and the other. Currently, there is a problem in the last few months and I hope there is some type of progress that can be achieved, or at least the powers can achieve sort of functional relationship. But, it's very difficult for me to say this. I have been involved in this situation in my previous post. I was Ambassador to Israel so I know the region and we have to be very prudent in order to say if this is going to be solved. Unfortunately, it's not so easy. At the same time, Argentina is supporting the idea that this needs to be solved in order to recover some type of stability for the good of the region and the world in total."
--IANS
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