Traveling to Peru where he will carry out an official three-day visit, Vicepresident of India Hamid Ansari extolled today the importance of relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.
On board the plane taking him to Frankfurt, Germany, Ansari was urged by reporters accompanying him to evaluate commercial, political and cultural links with Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular with Peru and Cuba, the two stages of his visit.
Peru is a factor ever more important in world economy with growth rates among the highest in the planet and we are following it closely, he said.
He commented that Latin America as a group is of high relevance to India with countries like Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile with vast mineral resources or like Venezuela with its formidable oil potential.
In the case of Cuba, he said, it is a particularly friendly country with which we have had very warm and cordial relations.
He pointed that the Cuban people is also "unique in many aspects because for a very long time has conducted its ship in very adverse weather, which talks well of its capacity to survive, but also to do things right.
The Vicepresident of India commented that the island has Developer several niches of competente that are of interest to his country, as medicine and biotechnology and it is thus interested to include such areas in the agenda he will discuss in Havana.
Accompanying the Vicepresident there are over 100 persons, among which there are government officials and cultors of arts and traditions. He will be in Lima from October 28, where both nations will commemorate half a century of diplomatic relations. In Lima, Ansari plans to meet with president Ollanta Humala and other high officials of the Peruvian government to boost investment and bilateral trade, surpassing 1.1 billion dollars a year. Both countries presently negotiate a free trade treaty.
In Cuba he is scheduled to be on the 24th where there has been organized the largest festival of Indian culture of all times, with the participation of Indian artists accompanying the Vicepresident.