In an effort to have direct interactions with the Indian manufacturers in various sectors specially engineering, a 10-member business delegation from the LatAm is expected to come for a B2B meet organised by EEPCINDIA in mid January.

The delegation will be visiting Mumbai and Ahmedabad to be part of the Vibrant Gujarat and have discussions for tie-ups in several areas including construction, mining, power sector, agri-products, automobile and and pharmaceutical.

?The basic objective to get such a delegation to India from LatAm region is to have direct interactions with the Indian manufacturers in different areas and to take advantage of joining hands with Indian manufacturers to bring their products in countries like Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, market and promote their products,? senior officials told FE.

?We are inviting engineering companies from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, Peru and other countries from Latin America. Mainly importers from these countries will meet the Indian manufacturers for a buyer-seller meet in Gandhinagar and a business summit in Mumbai from January 10-14,? senior officer at EEPC India, said on grounds of anonymity as he was not authorised to interact with the media. EEPC India is a partner at the fifth Vibrant Gujarat meet scheduled to be held from January 12 -13.

According to R Vishwanathan, ambassador of India to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, ?Vibrant Gujarat is an initiative of the Gujarat government to promote trade and investment. Infact, Gujarat accounts for $7-bn of LatAm imports. The state also exports chemicals and pharma products besides the engineering goods.?

?Our company Mercado Latino, South2South, Global Sourcing SA will also be participating in the event. South2South is a corporate tourism company,? Somnath Naha, CEO, Mercado Latino SRL, told FE from Bolivia.

Naha, a member of the delegation, said, ?We would want to ensure that we start business transactions with India by importing products, and representing companies here. This is very important for us that Indian manufactures understand that we are not interested in importing a few containers, but we would want to generate the market for them. Today there is more presence of Korean and Chinese companies and products than Indian companies because those companies are helping the local reprensentatives to grow, we would like the Indian manufactures to understand that.?

India and South America have developed billions of dollars of business over the last decade. And there are more than 15 Indian companies in Argentina, quite a lot in Chile, Peru and Colombia. Mexico is also not far behind, there are many Indian companies working there.

A large number of Indian companies are present in Brazil, while Jindal Steel has an investment of $2.5 billion in Bolivia along with Bolivia government.

?However, Indian products/services that are available in the market are of high end mainly technology, but efforts are on to bring common good quality Indian products in different sectors in the region,? said another delegate from Colombia.

The Latin American region is one of the fast growing regions in the world. Argentina is the second largest country in South America and is one of the fast growing economies in the world. In recent times, several Indian companies have made investments and joint ventures in Argentina amounting to about $800 million in the fields of IT, Steel, Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.

The India-Mercosur PTA, which became operational in June 2009, is expected to provide a significant boost to bilateral trade and investment flows. India exported engineering goods to Argentina worth $74.35 million during 2008-09.