The Hindu Business Line : Cent Am team pitches for investments, tie-ups

FOREIGN Ministers of six Central American nations on Tuesday wooed Indian entrepreneurs to make investments and new partnerships with their growing region.

At a meeting organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Ministers said trade between India and Central America was far below the potential and suggested that there should be more integrated and intensive efforts to tap its full potential. Their region could be the gateway to the US, the largest market, and to the southern American nations, they said.

The six nations have a total average annual import of $30 billion and have sizeable foreign direct investments from the US, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, China and Korea.

The visit is the first by a joint delegation from the `Cent Am' region including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica and comes at a time when the region is looking for integration with the new world order, especially after the 9/11 event, according to El Salvador's Ms Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila.

El Salvador is keen on tie-ups in technology transfers and others with India, which has made advancements in various areas.

If Nicaragua is strategically placed for Indian investors, it has also put in place conducive reforms and a strong legal highway to support competition and intellectual property rights under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

It already hosts some of the best global manufacturers such as Japanese auto spares major Yasaka, brands such as Route 66, Dockers, Old Navy and the source of best cigars, rum and coffee, according to its Foreign Minister, Mr Norman Jose Caldera Cardenal.

Guatemala's strength is in tourism, chemicals and fertiliser sectors, according to Mr Jorge Skinner Klee.

Ms Primrose Sharma, Indian Ambassador of India to Panama and accredited to the other six nations, said it was time for India to discover the region of great potential.