Vice president heads to three Latin American nations

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will be on a three-nation visit from Sunday to Latin American countries — Guatemala, Panama and Peru — leading a major diplomatic outreach by India.

Naidu will first visit Guatemala (Sunday to Monday), followed by Panama (Tuesday to Wednesday) and Peru (Thursday to Friday).

“India's relations with the Latin American region, both in terms of political engagement as well as trade and commerce, have intensified and certainly this visit (by vice president) is going to further enhance that engagement,” Preeti Saran, secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

“Our trade and investment are one of the main drivers of this relationship. There is, however, scope and potential of doing better and we hope that this visit will again help to enhance that,” she said.

New Delhi expects that the vice president's visit to Guatemala, Peru and Panama would further help to step up cooperation in strategic areas, including space, telematics tracking, satellite fabrication, science and technology including biotechnology.