The Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and its MoU partner Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), Lima held their inaugural dialogue online on the theme India-Peru Relations: Engagements with the Region and Bilateral Relations on 8 September 2022.
In the Inaugural Session of the Dialogue, remarks were made by Amb. Vijay Thakur Singh, DG, ICWA, Mr. M. Subbarayudu, Ambassador of India to Peru, Ms. Monica Campos, Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of Peru, India and Dr. Aldo Panfichi, Vice President for Research of PUCP.
Amb Vijay Thakur Singh, DG, ICWA stated that Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is of growing importance to India. The region is rich in resources and minerals, has impressive agriculture and manufacturing and can play a role in India’s food and energy security needs. She noted that India is a strong and leading democracy, the fifth largest economy and an aspirational nation which is a leader in technology, space research and has world class companies in various sectors of the industry where India and countries of Latin America could explore joint collaborations and investments. She highlighted the high-level visits from India to the region and stated that India is expanding its diplomatic presence in the region with Embassies in Dominican Republic and Paraguay, which were recently inaugurated.
Dr. Aldo Panfichi, Vice President for Research of PUCP spoke about the value and mission of the PUCP, Lima. He stated that the University through its partnership with institutions such as the ICWA intends to expand its knowledge of Asia and India. Interactions between intellectuals and experts in international relations and foreign affairs will help develop relations between India and Peru and between Latin America and the Caribbean region and India. As a leading university of Peru, the PUCP is committed to development of a knowledge base about India and Asia among its scholars.
Amb. M. Subbarayudu, Ambassador of India to Peru noted the more than six decades of cordial relations between the two countries. These relations are marked by cultural affinity and growing people to people contacts. He stated that two nations are multicultural ancient civilizations believing in democratic values and sharing common concerns such as climate change, fight against terrorism, hunger and poverty alleviation. India and Peru are partners in South-South cooperation and work together in multilateral forums. He noted the growing trade relations between the two nations and highlighted the need to explore more complementarities especially in the technology sectors such as space, energy, defense and high technology. He stated that during the Covid-19 pandemic, India had provided Covid medicine technologies and tech based goods and services. The multifarious relations cover areas such as defence & space, IT, S&T, renewable energy, tourism, education and traditional medicine.
Ms. Monica Campos, Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of Peru stated that the economic relations between the two nations are strong and growing but have more potential. She noted that there are number of companies from Peru that are invested in the mining sector in India. Traditional areas of trade such as minerals such as gold and copper remain important. At the same time, trade is diversifying with private industry taking steps to invest in each other’s economies. She noted that Peru wishes to explore opportunities with India in the agricultural and agro-industrial sector.
The panel discussion on the India-Peru Relations: Engagements with the Region and Bilateral Relations was chaired by Prof. Rubin Tang, Advisor to the Vice President of Research, PUCP. The speakers in the panel were Amb. Ravi Thapar, Former Ambassador of India to Panama, Costa Rica & Nicaragua and Amb. Luis Tsuboyama, Ambassador of Peru to Indonesia. They discussed India’s Engagement with Latin America and Peru’s Engagement with Asia. They discussed the key global and regional trends which define the current geopolitical scenario including US-China confrontation, Taiwan cross-strait tensions, Covid-19 Pandemic and the Ukraine crisis. They also discussed the economic ties between India and the region. Possibility of exchanging experiences and best practices in implementation of poverty alleviation and digitalization programmes and setting up of Centres of Excellence by India in Peru and in the region in the S&T sector was discussed. Efforts needed for improved B2B interactions were emphasized.
Dr. Sebastian Adins, Head of Department of Political Science, PUCP, Lima and Dr. Stuti Banerjee, Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi spoke on India-Peru Bilateral Relations. An overview of the six decades of bilateral relations was presented; it was emphasized that the two countries had a tradition of working together in multilateral fora based on shared beliefs in multiculturalism, solidarity of the Global South, etc. It was emphasized that trade and economics are the mainstay of the bilateral relationship and that India has become an important economic partner of Peru. While partnership in traditional sectors of the economy such as mining, agriculture, minerals trade was noted, possible future areas of cooperation such as start-ups, AI, climate change initiatives and space technology were discussed.
The Dialogue noted that India and Peru would be celebrating the 60th year of their diplomatic ties in 2023. This provided an opportunity to take stock of the relationship, chart the way forward and give impetus to the overall ties.
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