The Hindu : India, Mercosur sign preferential trade agreement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

National

National

India, Mercosur sign preferential trade agreement

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 25. A preferential trade agreement was signed today between India and the Latin American bloc, Mercosur, with a view to establish a free trade agreement between the two sides.

The agreement was signed between the Commerce Minister, Arun Jaitley, and Ministers of four Latin American countries - Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina - in the presence of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is on a five-day visit here, and will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations tomorrow.

The Brazilian President had wide-ranging talks today with Mr. Vajpayee and later delegation-level talks were held leading to the signing of five agreements between the two countries in areas of space, tourism, culture, and removal of visa requirements for official and diplomatic personnel.

An External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said that negotiations were on between the two countries for launching a Brazilian micro satellite from an Indian launch pad and India had also offered its Param Super Computer. The two were also keen on cooperation in the areas of information technology, railways, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

An agreement was signed for cooperation between ISRO and the Brazilian space agency. India has also invited Brazil to be a partner country at the India International Trade Fair here in November.

It was noted that the trade between India and Brazil was one billion $ U.S. but there was much greater potential. The preferential trade agreement between India and Mercosur is expected to encourage a healthy growth of trade between India and Latin America.

During the day the Foreign Minister of Paraguay, Leila Rachid, had a working lunch with the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, which was described by the External Affairs Ministry as a "good discussion'' where a mutual desire to strengthen relations was expressed.

In the morning, Mr. Lula da Silva was given a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan after which he told reporters that he was interested in a "strategic alliance with India'' and bilateral cooperation in economic, trade and social sectors.

The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, hosted a banquet for the visiting Brazilian President in the evening where he recalled that the two countries had a shared perception on a wide range of international issues, especially world trade, development, environment and reform of the United Nations.

He said the two countries had cooperated during the "delicate negotiations pertaining to the establishment of a fair and equitable world economic order'' and set an example to the entire developing world. Mr. Kalam said India and Brazil were rich in bio diversity and could cooperate in making herbal medicines using this resource.

He also referred to the need to combat terrorism which, he said "cannot be compartmentalised and there can be no justification for terrorism on any ground, including ideological, religious, racial, ethnic or any other.''

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India, Mercosur sign preferential trade agreement