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Foreign affairs ministers from the Central American Integration System (SICA) visited New Delhi from 10-12 June 2008, giving a new impetus to trade, investment and cooperation in IT and other important sectors. The foreign minister’s delegation met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
SICA consists of eight member countries, namely, Panama, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The Dominican Republic is an associate member of the regional bloc. The basic objective of SICA is to achieve Central American integration, in order to make Central America a region of peace, freedom, democracy, and development, firmly grounded in the observance, protection, and promotion of human rights.
The delegation to India included Mssrs Samuel Lewis Navarro, First Vice-President and Minister of External Relations, Panama; Haroldo Rodas Melgar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guatemala; Bruno Stagni Ugarte, Foreign Minister, Costa Rica;. Clara Quinones de Longo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dominican Republic;. Eduardo Enrique Reina Garcia, Vice Foreign Minister, Honduras; and Eduardo Calix, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, El Salvador. And Mr. Samuel Santos Lopez, Minister of Foreign Relations, Nicaragua was represented by the Ambassador of Nicaragua to India, Mr. Leopoldo Riestra Elizondo.
During the visit, ministers agreed to achieve India-SICA trade target of US$1 billion by 2011. The two sides signed five pacts for easing visa regulations and promoting Foreign Office consultations. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a meeting titled ‘India and SICA: Opportunities for Business’ in a bid to encourage better trade and bilateral relations. The ministers presented the business potentials of their respective countries in various sectors wherein India could partner with them for better synergies.
The delegation hailed the rise of India as an emerging economic giant in Asia. Mr Eric Villichez, Director, SICA pointed out that though SICA is a small group, it could prove to be very crucial for India as it offered free exchange of trade with other countries such as the US and other European nations.
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Panama Hails Tech Cooperation with India
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According to Mr. Alberto.J. Pinzon M, Panama’s Ambassador to India, the programme of technological qualification through Center of Formation in High Tech financed by the Government of India is a major bilateral initiative.
The Ambassador told Diplomatist that “the relations between India and Panama are doing well, and the perspective is to extend them to more areas”. Both Panama and India agree on a series of subjects in international policy and are determined to confront the challenges of the developing nations. The first vice-president and Foreign Minister of Panama, Samuel Navarrese Lewis during his recent visit to India held wide-ranging talks with Mr. Anand Sharma, India’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Center of Formation in Hi Tech, set up in 2005, offers training in technologies to people of different sectors in academic, governmental, industrial, commercial areas. The education project is developed in the City of Saber with the support of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Instituto de Professional Formación and Qualification for Human Development INADEH.
Panama is located in the south of Costa Rica and north of Colombia. Driven by its well developed banking sector (owning more than 80 international banks), service and shipping sectors (having largest registry of ships in the world), Colon Free Zone (the second largest in the world after Hong Kong) and the Panama Canal (which is the highest income generator for the government), Panama’s economy grew at 11.2 percent in 2007. According to IMF, Panama’s economic growth rate has outpaced the rest of Latin America, which averaged 5 percent growth. The construction sector of Panama is undergoing hyper growth scoring dozens of construction projects. Panama seeks to expand the ‘Panama Canal’ by way of construction of third sets of locks by 2013. |
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