Seeking long term partnerships as well deepening cooperation in various sectors external affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar is heading to the Americas later this week.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday (April 19, 2023) officially announced the visit of Dr Jaishankar to Guyana (April 21-23), Panama (April 24-25), Colombia (April 25-27) and Dominican Republic (April 27-29). This is his first visit to these countries as Minister of External Affairs.

The minister has a very hectic agenda in all the four countries where besides his bilateral engagements he will have interactions with important regional groups: CARICOM and SICA and also meet with the Indian Diaspora.  Business events are being planned which will help in deepening trade ties in the region and a business delegation led by an industry body will be present alongside Dr Jaishankar.

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India and Guyana

Besides interacting with his counterpart Hugh Hilton Todd, Jaishankar will also be calling on the leadership of the country as well as other ministers. He will also be co-chairing the Joint Commission Meeting where the focus will be on a whole range of issues including energy and food security.

His schedule in that country also includes a meeting of Foreign Ministers in the India-COFCOR (Council on Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR); a group of 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM)) format and hold bilateral meetings with participating Ministers.

India-Panama

During his visit to Panama where he is being hosted by Foreign Minister Ms Janaina Tewaney Mencomo, he will call on top leadership. According to the MEA during his visit to Panama, the India-SICA Foreign Ministerial Meeting will be convened and he will meet representatives of the 8-country Central American Integration System (SICA).

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This is an institutional framework of Regional Integration in Central America and was created by countries including El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica. The Dominican Republic and Belize joined as full members subsequently.

Financial Express Online has reported earlier that India and SICA are working towards a Customs Union and for it to move forward the two sides are working towards addressing several issues which are based on the requirements of individual member states. Issues that are critical include Space Cooperation, Security, Food & Energy, Aerospace, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture; Capacity Building as well as MSMEs.

Also Read: Connecting India and Central America: Growing economic relationship

On April 24, at Panama City there will be a business seminar – “A bird´s-eye view of India-Latin America relations” organized jointly by the government of Panama and CAF, the Latin American Development Bank. The aim of this seminar is to provide a birds-eye view of India-Latin America ties from the perspective of practitioners who have played a direct role in enhancing the relationship.

During the seminar special presentation will be made by Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor, Boston University; author of the book ‘La Nueva India’ and the speakers will include former Ambassador Rengaraj Viswanathan and Ambassador Juan Alfredo Pinto Saavedra, Author, and former Colombian Ambassador to India. The session will be moderated by Hari Seshasayee, Asia-Latin America Specialist (UNDP).

India-Colombia

In his first visit to Colombia as an external affairs minister he will meet with several top representatives of the Government, Civil Society and business. Along with his counterpart Alvaro Leyva Duran the bilateral ties will be reviewed. The two sides will discuss opportunities in Indo-Pacific, Space Cooperation.

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According to sources the two sides are also expected to discuss food and energy security as the South American nation is already playing a very important role in the energy security of India and besides supplying crude it has also been supplying coal. Indian private sector companies have been buying crude from Colombia.

Financial Express Online has already reported that oil companies from both sides have identified four areas where the two sides can cooperate in the oil sector. These include exploration of oil, purification of hydrocarbons, exploration and production of oil and activities of refining.

Health sector, automobiles, urban planning & development, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, IT, Start-ups, urban planning & development are among other areas where both sides are keen to expand cooperation.

India-Dominican Republic

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1999 this will be the highest level visit to this country. Financial Express Online has reported earlier that India opened its Embassy in Santo Domingo in 2022 and during this visit it will be inaugurated formally by Jaishankar and his counterpart Roberto Alvarez. Last year, Ramu Abbagani had presented his credentials as the first resident Ambassador of India to the Dominican Republic.

Later he will deliver a talk at the Foreign Ministry of Dominican Republic.

Also Read: India opens a mission in the Dominican Republic; Know more

The two sides have already identified new areas of cooperation and investments including Space, Nano satellites, cyber security, Artificial Intelligence, Oceanography, textiles among others.

This country could also be considered as an important Logistics Hub as it will make it easier to connect with Central American nations. Dominican Republic is already a member of two important institutions led by India – International Solar Alliance and CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure).