India opened a Trade Commission in Buenos Aires in 1943 and later made it into an Embassy in 1949. Argentina had established a Consulate in Calcutta in the 1920s which was transferred to Delhi as an Embassy in 1950. Argentina opened a Consulate General office in Mumbai in April, 2009.
Visits from India
President Zail Singh - April 1984 Prime Minister Narasimha Rao - 1995 (for G-15 Summit ) Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi - 1968
Minister of State for External Affairs Mr Anand Sharma February 2008 Minister of State for External Affairs Rao Inderjeet Singh -2005 Minister of State for External Affairs Smt. Preneet Kaur- October, 2010
Minister of State for Commerce, Jyotiraditya Scindia-May 2011 Minister of Agriculture, Shri Sharad Pawar- September 2010 Minister of Textiles Mr Shankarsinh Vaghela -April 2008
Air Force Chief - 1990 Naval Chief - 1988
Visits from Argentina
President Cristina Kirchner Fernandez – 14-15 October 2009 President Carlos Menem – March 1994 President Raul Alfonsin - 1985 ( chief guest for Republic Day) President Reynaldo Bignone - 1983 ( to attend NAM summit) President Arturo Frondizi - Dec 1961
Foreign Minister Taiana – September 2007 (for G-20 Ministerial meeting) Foreign Minister Taiana -July 2006
Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Julian Dominguez- August 2010 Chief Minister of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri- April 2010
President Cristina Kirchner Fernandez visited India on 14-15 October 2009. This was the first bilateral visit in the last 15 years and laid the foundation for closer relationship. She was accompanied by the MInisters and Governors of the provinces of San Juan and La Pampa along with a 70 member business delegation. Ten agreements/MOUs for cooperation, covering wide ranging areas such as sports, science & technology, industrial research, hydrocarbons, trade promotion and business visas were signed. During the visit, both sides agreed to develope a Comprehensive Dialogue leading towards a Strategic Partnership. A bilateral trade target of US $ 3 billion by 2012 was also agreed upon by both sides. The Argentine Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have formed Friends of India Parliamentary groups in 2008.
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Bilateral Agreements
The following Agreements were signed during the visit of the Argentine President to India in October 2009.
• Framework Agreement between India and Argentina on Cooperation in the Peaceful uses of Outer Space. • MOU between SEGEMAR of Argentina Republic and Geological Survey of India. • POC in S&T between Department of Science & Technology of the Republic of India and Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation of the Argentine Republic for 2009-11. • MOU between Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Republic of India and Sports Secretariat of the Argentine Republic on Sports Cooperation. • MOU on Cooperation in the field of Trade Promotion and Technology Transfer in International Trade between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Argentine Republic. • MOU between INTI, Republic of Argentina and National Research Development Council Corporation, New Delhi. • MOU between ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and ENARSA. • Institutional Cooperation Agreement between the Argentine Council on Scientific and Technical Research [CONICET] and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. • Exchange of letter for 5 year multiple entry gratis business visas. • Agreement between the Government of Argentina and the Government of the Republic of India for cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.
Other Agreements signed
• MOU on coopeartion in customs matters- April 2011 • MOU on Gainful employment of family members of a diplomatic Mission or Consular Post – Oct 2010 • MOU for cooperation in Agriculture and Allied Sectors – Sept 2010 • MOU for Cooperation in Agricultural Research and Education – July 2006 • BIPPA– 1999. • MOU on Antarctic Cooperation – 1998. • Agreement for exemption of Visas for holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports – 1994. • MOU on Foreign Office Consultations – 1994. • Agreement for Grant of three years´ Business visas – 1993. • Agreement on Technical and Scientific Cooperation – 1985. • Cultural Agreement – 1974. • Agreement for waiver of fee for tourist and transit visas – 1968.
Joint Commission Meeting
The Joint Commission established since 1994 coordinates and reviews bilateral cooperation in various areas including agriculture, trade and investment, science and technology, education and culture. The third meeting of the Joint Commission was held in New Delhi in July
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2006, co-chaired by the Argentine Foreign Minister and MOS External Affairs from the Indian side.
Foreign Office Consultation is another mechanism of cooperation between the two countries. After a gap of 3 years Shri Vivek Katju, Secertary (West) led the Indian delegation for the Foreign Office Consultations with Argentina on 4th October, 2010 in Buenos Aires, where he reviewed with his counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Mr. Alberto Dalotto the entire gamut of bilateral relations, and exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues.
Science & Technology
Under the Agreement on Technical and Scientific Cooperation of 1985, the Programme of Cooperation (POC) for 2009-11 was signed in 2009 during the Argentine President visit to India in October 2009.
Antarctic Cooperation
India and Argentina also have ongoing cooperation in the Antarctica. Both are members of the Antarctic Treaty. The Secretariat is located in Buenos Aires. An MOU on Antarctic cooperation was signed between India and Argentina in 1998 and renewed in 2006.
Defence
The Argentine Government has posted a Defence Attache in their Embassy in New Delhi in 2008. The Defence Minister and the three Chiefs of the Armed Forces of Argentina have shown interest in opening up cooperation with India including in training, sourcing of equipment and UN Peace Keeping. A delegation of the National Defence College (NDC) of India visited Argentina in May 2008. An Indian Naval Officer joined in the six-month global sailing of the Argentine Naval Sailing Vessel ‘Libertador’ in 2008. An Indian Naval officer was deputed to attend the Antarctic Navigation course in September 2009.
Space
ISRO launched an Argentine nano-satellite, called as PehuenSat-I (weighing 6 kg) on board PSLV of India in January 2007 on a commercial basis. There exists scope for such cooperation in future.
Trade (US $ million)
Year 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 India’s exports 560 496 342 492 328 290 269 India’s imports 1214 2032 876 836 1002 949 746 Total 1774 2528 1218 1329 1330 1239 915
Major exports of India in 2011 were Organic chemicals, Equipment and machinery, Synthetic fibre, Sound and image devices, Tractors and autoparts, Lubricants and special oils, Cotton, Dyes and Iron & Steel.
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Major Imports from Argentina in 2011 were Soybean oil, Sunflower oil, Sugar, Leather, Zinc , Iron and steel, Water pumps, Plastics, Salt and related minerals and Coal.
Investment and Joint Ventures
There are fourteen Indian Companies which have established operations in Argentina. They provide employment to 7000 Argentines; eight of them are in IT, two in agro-chemicals one in pharma, one in cosmetics and one in mining.
• TCS has a unit employing 200 Argentines in Buenos Aires and has plans to increase the staff strength to over 1000 by 2012. • ICICI’s BPO wing “First Source” has a BPO in Buenos Aires with 320 staff. • Cognizant has IT and BPO operations employing 150 staff. • CRISIL’s IREVNA has set up a KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) unit in Buenos Aires for financial and investment research services employing 70 Argentine staff and has plans to expand. This is the first third-party KPO in Argentina. • Copal Partners , an Indian Financial Research company has established an office in Buenos Aires in the second half of 2010.This is the sixth global office of Copal which has centres in US, UK, Dubai, India, and Mauritius. Copal has 1200 employees in these six centres and serves 40 clients. • HCL has opened a Centre in Buenos Aires in June 2009. • Global Sourcing Solutions has opened a Centre in Buenos Aires since January 2010. It has started off with 250 staff and has plans to expand. • Cellent , a Mumbai-based IT company, has bought an Argentine start-up company "Net People" which specializes in software for mobile phones. • Aaliptha Software Company of Mysore has got a seven million dollar sub-contract in 2008 to provide banking solutions to Argentine Credit Cooperative Bank. • Flatworld Solutions has opened a Centre in Buenos Aires in January 2010. It has started off with 100 staff and has plans to expand. • Aegis , a part of Essar group acquired Argentine BPO company Actionline in October 2010. • United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) of Mumbai has acquired two Argentine agrochemical companies and a seed company and operates four manufacturing units and a R&D unit employing 200 Argentines. UPL exports agrochemicals from its plants in Argentina. The turnover of UPL Argentina is about 70 million dollars and is expected to increase. • Punjab Chemicals and Crop Protection Ltd (PCCPL ) has acquired two Argentine company “Síntesis quimica” and operates two factories in Argentina producing and exporting agro chemicals. Their turnover is about 25 million dollars. • Glenmark has acquired an Argentine pharma company “Servycal SA” which specializes in oncological products. They are setting up a new plant (to be inaugurated in end 2009) which will become the global centre of oncological products for the company. They are already exporting to about 30 countries. • Godrej has acquired two Argentine companies: Issue Group which is a leader in hair colour and Argencos a cosmetics business in Argentina. The combined turnover of US$ 45 million. The Group has a manufacturing plant in Buenos Aires. • Indian mining company , Indo Borax Chemicals Ltd. has acquired a small Borax mine in Argentina in 2009.
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• Reliance has formed a joint venture with an Argentine oil company Pluspetrol (The consortium includes Woodside of Australia) and they have won a concession in Peru for oil and gas exploration. • Srishti Group of Kolkota has signed (in 2009) a MoU with the provincial government of Missiones to build a “Vedic Hotel” in the tourist resort of Iguazu. • Ashok Leyland has signed a MoU with Plaza Group of Argentina for joint venture in production of buses and trucks. • Tata Motors is exploring possibilities of joint ventures in vehicle production in Argentina. • Sonalika Tractors has signed a MoU with an Argentine company for tractors and agricultural machinery. • ONGC (OVL) has signed a MoU with ENARSA, their Argentine counterpart for possible joint ventures in Argentina for oil exploration. • IFFCO is exploring the possibility of setting up an Urea plant in La pampa region of Argentina.
Non-Resident Indian companies
• ArcelorMittal has acquired the Argentine steel company Acindar and steel distribution company Majadalani for over 600 million dollars. • Sterling Group of India (owned by NRI Sivasankaran) has acquired a 1700 hectare olive farm in Catamarca Province of Argentina. • “Olam ”, a NRI company with headquarters in Singapore has started farming in Argentina growing peanuts. They are diversifying into other crops such as soya and wheat. They have leased 17,000 hectares of land and acquired two peanut processing plants. • There are some Indians who are in textiles business (imports, wholesale and retail) in Buenos Aires.
Argentine companies in India
• IMPSA , the Argentine engineering company, specializing in hydroelectric projects and energy, has opened an office in Gurgaon. They are exploring opportunities for projects as well as supply of power generation equipments such as turbines. They source wind energy parts from India and outsource engineering designs to Indian Companies. • Biosidus , an Argentine pharma company has a proposal to invest 20 million dollars in a new plant in India for production of biotech pharmaceuticals for Indian and Asian markets. They are already exporting over 3 million dollars a year to India. • BAGO , the leading Argentine pharma company has an office in Hyderabad. They have a joint venture operation with Ranbaxy to market their products in Thailand. Some Argentine companies have shown interest in investment and joint ventures in India in food processing and auto parts.
Argentina-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry
This Chamber was formed with the initiative of the Embassy and was launched in the presence of the Commerce Secretaries of India and Argentina during a Business Seminar in Buenos Aires in June 2008.
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Business Centre
A Business Centre in the Chancery has been established which was inaugurated by the Commerce Secretary of India in June 2008. It has become a meeting point and resource centre for Argentine and Indian businessmen.
ITEC
India gives five ITEC scholarships to Argentine candidates every year. Argentine diplomats attend the courses at the Foreign Service Training Institute of India from time to time.
Culture
The Embassy regularly organizes Festival of India and the first event was held in 2008 as one of the largest-ever Festival of India in Buenos Aires from 21 to 28 November, which included Indian Classical and Folk Dance performances, seminars, Food Festival, Film Festival, Painting and Photo Exhibition, Handicrafts exhibition, Live demonstration by Indian artisans and ´Incredible India´ Tourism Promotion. Fourth such festival was organised in December 5-12, 2011.
Literature Rabindra Nath Tagore had visited Argentina in 1924 and stayed for two months as the guest of Victoria Ocampo, a well-known literary personality and writer. He wrote a series of poems under the title “Purabi” containing memory of his stay in Argentina. Victoria Ocampo was given a honorary doctorate by the Viswa Bharati University and this was handed over by PM Mrs Indira Gandhi during her visit to Argentina in 1968. Jawaharlal Nehru University had organised a seminar on Victoria Ocampo in 1991. Maria Rene Cura, the Argentine writer (died in 2007) and associate of Victoria Ocampo had published for some years a magazine on India. She ran a cultural centre devoted to India called as " Anand Bhavan". An international Conference on Tagore is being planned in Buenos Aires, in collaboration with the ICCR on 23 and 24 of April 2012.
Films Pablo Cesar, the Argentine movie director directed a Indo- Argentine joint production film " Unicorn- the garden of fruits" . This was released in 1996. He is now working on co-production of a film “Thinking of him” based on the interaction between Tagore and Victoria Ocampo. Trivandrum based “Toonz Animation India” and Illusion Studios of Argentina have tied up for co- coproduction of a cartoon film “El Gaturru”. It is based on a famous Argentine cartoon character Gatuttu. The Film is a 50:50 joint venture, costing 3 million dollars was premiered in Buenos Aires on 7 September 2010.
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is becoming popular and there are some Ayurvedic SPAs and massage centres in Argentina. The University of Buenos Aires has been running postgraduate courses in Ayurveda in collaboration with Gujarat Ayurveda University. Dr Jorge Luis Berra is the organizer of these courses. Our Honorary Consul General in Cordoba city Dr. Sergio Suraez is also an Ayurvedic expert and teacher. The Department of AYUSH of the Indian Health Ministry has agreed to the proposal of the Embassy to support promotion of Ayurveda in Argentina. Page 6 of 8
Education
Jawaharlal Nehru University has signed an MoU for Cooperation with San Luis University of Argentina. Other Argentine universities have shown interest in collaboration with Indian universities.
Think tanks
The Indian Council for World Affairs has signed a MoU (April 2009) with the Argentine Council for International Relations. More Argentine think tanks have shown interest in exchanges with their Indian counterparts.
Economics
Raul Prebisch, the renowned Argentine economist was conferred Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1974. Renowned Indian economists Rakesh Mohan (August 2009) and Rajiv Kumar (March 2010) and Subba Rao ( August 2010) visited Argentina on the invitation of Argentine institutions and participated in Seminars.
Sports
Maradona visited Kolkata in December 2008 at the invitation of the Indian Football Academy and inaugurated a football school named after him. The Indian Football Academy is establishing a collaboration programme with the Argentine Club “River Plate” for training and exchanges. In June 2009 an Argentine professional football player Sebastian Monesterolo signed for Kingfisher East Bengal club to play in the Indian premier football league.
A Junior Hockey team from India played a series of friendly matches with the Argentine team in December 2008 in Buenos Aires and the Senior Hockey team played in Argentina in the second half of January 2009. An Indian women´s hockey team also toured Argentina to play a friendly series in January 2009.
An Indian Army Polo team played matches with their Argentine counterparts in December 2008 at Buenos Aires and sent an Indian officer for a one-year equestrian training in Argentina. Argentine Polo players have been playing in Indian teams. Indian Polo players visit Argentina for training and participation in tournaments.
Consular relations
Under the 1968 Visa agreement, fees for transit visas have been abolished. In 2009 the Embassy issued 4878 visas. The Embassy of India in Argentina gives Cafe Con Visa (coffee with visa) to Argentine visitors. This has been praised by the Argentine media, public and the Foreign Minister himself. An agreement to give five year visa gratis to businessmen of both countries was signed in October 2009.
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Indian Community
There are about 200 Indians in Buenos Aires of which half of them are those settled for over thirty years. Most of these are from the Sindhi community. The others are professionals working with Indian companies and multinational corporations.
About 300 Sikhs from Punjab have settled down in Salta province in the course of the last two centuries. They have become Argentine citizens and are well assimilated in the local population. Most of them are in retail and wholesale trade. The first generation immigrants speak Punjabi. There is a Gurudwara in the town Rosario de la Frontera, where they celebrate Guru Nanak Day every year. President Zail Singh had visited the Gurudwara in 1984.
March 2012
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