Round The World
New Delhi, 26 February 2021
India-Ecuador
Ties
GATEWAY TO
SOUTH AMERICA
By Dr. D.K
Giri
(Prof.
International Relations, JIMMC)
South
America is an unexplored territory for India and likewise this county is
looking beyond their former colonial contacts to build new relations. India
obviously is an attractive candidate for its plurality, diversity, democracy
and market opportunities. As it takes two to tango, it would be worthwhile for
the two countries to explore opportunities which appear to be coming their way.
One such
opportunity presented itself in a summit between India and Ecuador organised by
Indian Economic Trade Organisation this week in New Delhi. Out of all the
speakers, the Ecuador Ambassador to India Hector Gonzalo Cueva Jacome spoke
eloquently about India grabbing the opportunities in Ecuador, which could
potentially turn to be the gateway for Indian entry into South American
continent.
South
America, which is also called Latin America in terms of cultural and linguistic
identity, consists of 20 odd countries inhabited by about 420 million people.
It has been largely under Spanish rule with some states having been under
French and Portuguese influence and yearning for a change.
A small
beginning perhaps has been made at the summit, organised by a non-state actor
in the format of what is called the track-II diplomacy. It was very much in
order as it is now universally accepted that business, global civil society,
research organisations and think tanks could contribute to enhancing diplomatic
relations. One is reminded here of the humdinger words of Charles de Gaulle,
the mercurial former President of France, “Politics is too serious a business
to be left to the politicians alone”. The same could apply to diplomacy. The
summit in reference was therefore enriched by the participation of people from
multi-sectors of the country.
India-Ecuador
relations could be the prototype of bilateralism that can be replicated across
South America. Tracing the ties between the two countries, the first diplomatic
contact took place in 1969. Two years ago, both countries celebrated 50 years
of their bilateralism. The diplomatic relations expanded when Ecuador opened
its Consulate in Mumbai in 2013 preceded by only two other South American
countries -- Brazil in 2006 and Argentina in 2013.
The ties
between India and Ecuador have been mainly on trade. By the figures of recent
years, India has imported more from far-away Ecuador than it has from its
immediate neighbours Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India-Ecuador
trade of USD 1.29 billion in 2014-15 was higher than that of India’s trade with
Norway, Kazakhstan and Bahrain. India was also fifth largest importer of
Ecuador oil, which by the way, is about 20 per cent of India’s oil import
accounted by South American countries. Indian companies have a sizeable
presence in Ecuador. Notably, HCL, the IT company, has over 2000 people working
there.
All in
all, India-Ecuador trade relations have been defined by two elements -- trade and
defence. Trade has been improving albeit slowly but it is the defence
transactions that had run into a bit of rough weather. In 2009, Indian defence
manufacturing, public sector organisation HAL bagged a contract in a
competitive bidding to supply seven Dhruv helicopters to Ecuador. It beat
competitors like Israel, Europe, Japan and Russia to a USD 45 million contract
of chopper supply. Interestingly, this was the first defence contract that
India won in a competition.
The Dhruv
helicopters are popular in India, served effectively in the Kedarnath floods of
2013. About 200 choppers have been deployed by Indian Air Force and are said to
have clocked 150,000 hours of flying. But sadly, four of the choppers supplied
to Ecuador crashed; two owing to pilots’ mistakes and other two for mechanical
errors. Although all the seven helicopters were transferred to Ecuador, the
contract was unilaterally cancelled by the Defence Ministry of Ecuador. The
contract contained insurance and supplementary supplies in addition to the
helicopters. Those parts were cancelled. The ground staff support from India
was withdrawn before the crash.
The
helicopter episode left a bad taste in the mouth for Ecuadorians as a visit by
their President was called off the same year the crash happened. Several
ministerial level visits have taken place from either side but not by the heads
of governments. The bitterness seems to have evaporated over a period of time
as the crash points to the issues of technology transfer. Along with the
machinery, the operational know-how needs to be transferred for gradual and
eventual absorption of the technology by the host country. The skill
upgradation of the handlers of the new technology is also equally important.
Mechanical
accidents are bound to occur despite rigorous care and precautions. India-
Ecuador relations need to move beyond this incident and expand into newer
areas. In this summit, the Ecuador Ambassador listed the opportunities in
various sectors for entire South America using Ecuador as an experimental
ground. Following the pandemic, the ‘ease of living’ has become as important as
‘ease of doing business.’ The Ambassador hailed India’s tremendous success and
promptness in manufacturing the vaccines. In fact, he was the first diplomat in
Delhi to take the vaccine injection.
The Ambassador
highlighted the big disparity in access and affordability of health care in
both countries. A particular treatment costing Rs 350 in India could cost 5000
in Ecuador, most treatments cost 10 to 15 times more in Ecuador. India with its
pharma manufacturing base and health care professionalism could enter Ecuador
in a big way. The second sector is agriculture. India imports quite a few
products from Ecuador; it could set up food processing plants, storage and
transport facilities there. A centre of excellence in agriculture like it has
planned in IT will come handy for Ecuador. The third sector is IT. India as the
international hub of software could export this technology and know-how to
Ecuador and South America. Fourth, education is another sector in Ecuador that
needs expert intervention.
The
Ambassador zestfully pointed out in anecdotal terms the popularity and practice
of the English language in Latin America. Only 5 per cent people speak English
although they consider this language to be the window to the world. The Spanish educational organisations are
engaged in teaching and spreading English language in South America. Indians
with a huge population speaking English could do better in teaching English there.
He specifically mentioned the presence
of American school, British school, French language institutes in New Delhi and
posed the question, why is New Delhi not setting up Indian schools abroad!
The fifth
sector is tourism. Indian tourists are in hundreds in South America whereas it
has tremendous tourists’ attractions.
One Ecuador Ambassador preceding the present one, talked about adventure
destinations and honeymoon tourism in South America. India, with its huge young population could
look at it as a tourist avenue. Likewise, many South Americans are not aware of
the colour, festivities and diversities in India. The tour operators should be
facilitated to advertise and attract tourists from South America.
In
addition, there are other sectors like environment, art and culture, science
and sports which can bring the countries together. All these sectors must be
explored to build a robust and complex contact with South America. Ecuador is a
part of integration economies, namely Andean, Mercosur countries comprising
five sovereign countries, seven associated and two observer countries. So
deepening of relations with Ecuador could lead to seamless expansion of Indian
relations into other countries. It is time New Delhi focussed on the
unchartered territory of South America. --- INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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