New Delhi: India, Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries need to speak in one voice globally in the true spirit of South-South Cooperation, Minister of State of Ministry of External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi said.

Speaking at the Valedictory Session on day 2 of the 9th CII India-LAC Conclave organised in New Delhi by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the MEA and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, she said that G20 under India’s presidency has directed particular attention toward addressing the concerns of the Global South.

Lekhi said that the unified voice would be particularly important in the current multipolar world that calls for negotiated engagements on climate change mitigation, and the dismantling of trade barriers, among others.

In this context, she said the 9th CII India-LAC Conclave needs to be viewed as a call to action to bring alive more engagements between the two regions.

Stating that India has set sights on becoming the third largest economy by the year 2047 when the country completes 100 years of Independence, Lekhi said that when India does well, the world does well, and urged LAC countries to work closely with India by leveraging the complementarity that exists between the two regions.

Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez, Executive Vice President and Minister of People’s Power for Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in her address said the two regions need to consider conducting trade in local currency.

Sunil Barthwal, Secretary – Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India said that considering that imports from India constitute less than 2 per cent of LAC’s total imports, there is significant scope for expansion of India-LAC bilateral trade. While efforts are underway to double the bilateral trade to USD 100 billion, that will also call for a new approach to broad base the trade exchanges, such as integrating with diversified global value chains in a re-globalised world.

Barthwal directed attention to the need for closer India-LAC cooperation in the area of energy transition. Fresh thinking is called for in areas like renewals, battery manufacturing, energy storage technology, chemical industry impact, etc., that are aligned with the Net Zero goal.

While stating that talks are underway for various FTAs, Barthwal suggested a Joint Economic and Trade Cooperation model for cooperation between India and LAC. He also called for close India-LAC cooperation on issues in MC13 at the WTO.

Narayan Sethuramon, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on EXIM and Managing Director, Sanmar Matrix Metals Limited in his opening remarks said the Conclave had the participation of 300+ delegates from 26 LAC countries and 10 non-LAC countries, as well as 500 delegates from India. Over 350 B2B formal meetings were conducted. He said the Conclave has opened up several new avenues for India-LAC economic and business partnerships.