Jaishankar to pay 6-day visit to 3 nations in South America

Ahead of his six-day visit to South America, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday met with envoys of Latin America and the Caribbean countries, with a focus on boosting overall bilateral ties.

Jaishankar will pay an official visit to Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina from August 22 to 27, and it will be his first trip to the South American region as the external affairs minister.

The visit is aimed at exploring new areas of cooperation in the post-pandemic era, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

''Pleasure to host Ambassadors in New Delhi from the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean countries- Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname and Uruguay,'' Jaishankar tweeted.

''So much potential for growing our cooperation. Encourage their efforts to realizing it fully. Thanked them for their perspectives and insights as I head to the region tonight,'' he added.

The MEA said Jaishankar will call on the top leadership of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina in addition to bilateral engagements with his counterparts in the three countries.

In Paraguay, he will also inaugurate the premises of the newly opened Indian embassy which started functioning in January 2022.

It would be the first-ever visit by an Indian external affairs minister to the country.

In Brazil and Argentina, Jaishankar will co-chair the Joint Commission Meetings (JCM) with his counterparts.

The MEA said the JCM will review the entire gamut of the bilateral relationships in diverse fields and discuss regional and global issues of common interests.

''Argentina and Brazil are strategic partners of India. In addition, the external affairs minister will also interact with business leaders and the Indian communities in these countries,'' the MEA said in a statement.

In Brazil, he is scheduled to deliver an address at the Rio Branco Institute (Brazilian Diplomatic Academy).

The MEA said Jaishankar's visit to these three countries will provide an opportunity to continue the ongoing high-level engagements with India's partners in the region and explore new areas of cooperation in the post-pandemic era, besides exchanging views on issues of bilateral and international significance.

India's ties with the African continent are on an upswing since the last few years.

Last month, Jaishankar said India has extended concessional loans of over USD 12.3 billion to Africa and completed 197 projects so far.

India's bilateral trade with Africa has reached USD 89.5 billion in 2021-22 compared to USD 56 billion the previous year.