SMK may meet Fidel Castro
As New Delhi prepares for external affairs minister S.M. Krishna’s visit to Cuba early next month, among the leaders with whom it’s trying to fix a meeting is the iconic revolutionary and former president, Fidel Castro.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the last high-level dignitary from India to make the trip to Havana in 2006 during UPA-I’s tenure. Acknowledging its “strong engagement” with the island nation, New Delhi says that another high-level visit was “long overdue”. After all, relations between India and Cuba go beyond just the traditional “bilateral relations” between countries. They also share a “strong NAM (non-aligned movement) connection”.
Mr Krishna will be in Cuba on February 2 and 3 followed by a two-day visit to Colombia. The visit to the two Latin American nations will also be part of New Delhi’s attempts in the last decade to increasingly engage with countries in the region. For now, Brazil is India’s largest trading partner with $15 billion worth of cumulative investments.
India imports nearly $600 million worth of crude from Colombia annually. Now, Colombia is seeking India’s help to set up a small car assembly plant in their country. The Latin American nation has also told India that it is willing to give it mining rights for coal and iron ore in exchange for providing rail connectivity to the mines.
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