Hostly hosting the foreign chief since Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Paraguay’s visiting president, Santiago Penna Palasios that the two countries are “united in the fight against terrorism” and “shared challenge” such as cooperation to fight against fighting against cybercrime, organized crime, and medicine.
Welcoming President Pena to the delegation-level talks, Modi said that the first visit of the Paraguayan leader to Delhi will provide new strength to the pillars of trust, trade and close cooperation in relations and will also add new dimensions to the relations of India-Latin America.
Pena, who reached Delhi on Monday, is on a three -day visit to India to find out ways to expand overall cooperation. This is his first visit to India and only the second visit by the President of the South American country.
Modi said, “India and Paraguay are united in the fight against terrorism. There is immense possibility of cooperation to fight against shared challenges such as cyber crime, organized crime and shared challenges like drug trafficking,” Modi described the two countries with “hopes, aspirations, challenges” described as the integral organs of the global south.
“We see new opportunities for cooperation in areas such as digital technology, important minerals, energy, agriculture, healthcare, defense, railway, space and overall economic partnership,” he said.
Briefing reporters, P Kumaran, Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (East), said: “The yatra soon comes after a barbaric terrorist attack in Pahgam, Jammu and Kashmir Modi expressed his deep praise for Paraguay for his strong condemnation of terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Paraguay’s people, Paraguay, expressed his deepest one with terrorist attacks and families.”
Kumaran said that the two sides welcomed the establishment of a Joint Commission Tantra (JCM) at the Secretary / Vice-Menistorial level, which would “serve as an important platform for cooperation and advance cooperation in priority areas of mutual interest.”
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The PM also mentioned New Delhi’s preference trade system with South American trading block Mercosur, which included Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The PM said, “We can work together to expand it further.”
On defense cooperation, Kumaran said that while Paraguay’s priorities are different for India, “the argument running its acquisition of defense hardware” is primarily law enforcement.
He said that a point discussed in the talks was “Agrostac”. Kumaran said, “As a large agricultural country, the use of digital platforms to make agriculture more efficient … is very interested in the Paraguayan side.”
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