Central America to to enhance cooperation with India
By Mayora IP
Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture of India, Smt. Meenakashi Lekhi, visited Central America from April 28 to May 5 2022, to agreed to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, pharma, IT and space.Smt. Meenakashi Lekhi met government officials from different countries to talk about greater cooperation through India-SICA framework. The Central American Integration System (or SICA) its an economic organization formed by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize and the Dominican Republic.
India started establishing linkages in 2004 with the regional block SICA in Central America thus commencing an intensification of relationships with Latin American region. Since then, India has opened several line of credits and set up IT Training Centres in SICA countries to share its expertise in priority areas such as agriculture, pharmaceuticals, SMEs, tourism, renewable energy, disaster management, distance education and supply of satellite imagery for development purposes.
During a visit to Honduras on May 1, Smt. Meenakashi Lekhi laid the foundation stone for the $ 26.5 million Jamastran Valley Irrigation project, funded by India through a line of credit to irrigate 3,060 hectares of land and benefit about 1200 farmers.
