NEW DELHI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- India's trade with the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region has grown 20-fold in nearly two decades but still there is a lot of potential, said a senior official at India's External Affairs Ministry on Wednesday.
Speaking at "Industry Interaction on India-LAC Trade and Investment," Joint Secretary (LAC) G.V. Srinivas said that trade between LAC and India had grown from 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2002 to 39 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, with India's exports around 13 billion U.S. dollars and imports of 26 billion U.S. dollars.
Both, the LAC countries and India, have witnessed encouraging growth in recent years "though a lot of potential yet remains untapped", he added.
The industry interaction was organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) jointly with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Srinivas further added that many leads have emerged from the recent interactions India had with the region including "Lithium Triangle" of Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. "The Lithium Triangle is welcoming Indian companies to join in the value chain and Bolivia inviting Indian pharmaceutical companies to set up cancer drug manufacturing plant," he added.
Speaking on the occasion, CEO of "IDB Invest" James Scriven said that "IDB Invest" would explore the possibilities of Indian companies engaging in the LAC region,
"We have about 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in assets under management with total assets around 12 billion U.S. dollars. We have in our assets about 400 projects," he said, adding that there are enormous opportunities for further collaboration between India and Latin American countries which together has a combined GDP of 8.4 trillion U.S. dollars and combined population of over 2 billion.
