Embassy of India
Buenos Aires
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INDIA-URUGUAY
BILATERAL RELATIONS
Political
Relations
The Embassy of
India in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is concurrently accredited to Uruguay.
Diplomatic relations between two democratic countries were established in 1960.
Uruguay has an Embassy in New Delhi and an Honorary Consulate in
Mumbai.
Bilateral
Interactions
2. The then Prime Minister of India Ms.
Indira Gandhi visited Uruguay in 1968. The then Vice Presidents of Uruguay, Mr.
Danilo Angel Astori Saragosa, and Dr. Hugo Fernandez Faingold visited India in
2011 and 1999 respectively. Uruguayan President Mr. Luis Lacalle Pou
participated in 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS) held virtually on 17
August 2024.
3. Ministerial level interactions and visits
between the two countries have taken place from time to time. Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Omar Paganini met Minister of State, Mr. V. Murleedharan on
the sidelines of G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Rio de Janeiro in Feb. 2024. Earlier,
Uruguayan Education Minister Pablo da Silveira participated in the 1st edition
of VOGSS held virtually in January 2023, and Mr. Omar Paganini, Minister of
Foreign Affairs participated in 2nd edition of VOGSS held virtually in November
2023. In the 3rd VOGSS, Vice Minister of Social Development Ms.
Andrea Brugman participated virtually in the Youth Session, Executive Director
of Agesic Mr. Hebert Paguas participated in the Information Technology.
4. External Affairs Minister (EAM), Dr. S.
Jaishankar, had a telephonic conversation with the then Uruguayan Foreign
Minister Mr. Ernesto Talvi on 29 April 2020 during Covid pandemic. Smt. Maneka
Sanjay Gandhi, Minister of Women and Child Development visited Uruguay and
called on Vice President of Uruguay, Ms. Lucia Topolansky on 16 November 2017.
Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Mr. Rodolfo Nin Novoa visited India in October
2015 with a commercial delegation to participate in the India-LAC
Conclave.
5. A 10-member Parliamentary delegation led
by Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs & Coal and Mines, Mr. Pralhad Joshi,
visited Uruguay 14-17 June 2023. The delegation was received by Vice
President & President of Senate Ms. Beatriz Argimón and President of Lower
House of Parliament Mr. Sebastián Andújar. A Rajya Sabha delegation comprising
four Members of Parliament participated in ‘2nd World Summit of Committees of
Future’ in Montevideo on 25-27 September 2023. Earlier, a parliamentary
delegation from India had visited Uruguay in 2012 and a Parliamentary
delegation from Uruguay visited India in 2010.
6. Foreign Office Consultations have been
institutionalized between the two countries through an Agreement signed in
1999. The fifth round of FOCs was held in March 2023 in New Delhi for which Deputy
Foreign Minister Nicolás Albertoni visited India. During the visit, he also
participated in the Raisina Dialogue 2023 and had meeting with Ministers of
External Affairs and Commerce & Industry. The fourth round of FOCs was held
in November 2021 in Montevideo.
7. Four young political leaders from
Uruguay participated in the third edition of ICCR’s Gen-Next Democracy
Program in July 2022. Six journalists from mainstream media have visited India
under XP Division’s familiarization programs, four in 2023 & two in 2024.
Economic and Commercial
Relations
8. The bilateral trade has been on an
upward trajectory in recent years with India having enjoyed the surplus
traditionally. In 2023, bilateral trade stood at USD 545.38 million of which
Indian exports constituted USD 401.63 million and imports from Uruguay were USD
143.75 (Source: DGCIS; In USD million). Plastics, petroleum oils, vehicles,
auto-parts and organic chemicals are the main items of export from India to
Uruguay. Timber, shorn wool, edible oils, iron & steel casings and
tubes and inorganic chemicals are the main items of export from Uruguay to
India.
9. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
established its software development centre and regional training centre in
Montevideo in 2002, the first ever in Latin America, which now employs more
than 3,500 employees including about 500 Indians. Another Indo-American
company, Infogain, opened its delivery center in Montevideo, in April
2022.
Cultural
Relations
10. Yoga and meditation are popular in
Uruguay. There are several hundred followers of Sai Baba, ISKCON, Art of
Living, Brahma Kumaris and other Indian yoga and spiritual groups. All editions
of International Day of Yoga (IDY) in the country have seen enthusiastic
participation by Uruguayans in large numbers. Ambassador
Dinesh Bhatia and Mrs. Seema Bhatia, along with Senator Carmen Sanguinetti,
inaugurated 10th IDY celebration on 23 June 2024, organized in
association with AgNIY (Association of Yoga Institutes in Uruguay) which saw
participation of more than 20 yoga schools and hundreds of yoga enthusiasts.
11. The 7th Ayurveda Day was celebrated in
Uruguay on 02 November 2022 i.e on Dhanvantari Jayanti in collaboration with
Asociacion Uruguaya de Medicina Ayurvedica (AUMA), a non-profit organization
formed with the objective of promoting the knowledge of Ayurveda in
Uruguay.
12. As part of Gandhi@150 celebrations, a
commemorative stamp and a philatelic sheet on Mahatma Gandhi was launched in
Montevideo on 27 November 2019 at the premises of the Uruguayan Foreign
Ministry. In February 2011, the Uruguayan postal department issued a stamp to
commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
13. A seven-member Kuttiyattam troupe led
by Mr. Sooraj Nambiar of SNA Kuttiyattam Kendra gave performances in Uruguay in
March 2018. An Odissi performance was organized in Montevideo in March 2015. A
mini-Festival of India was organized in Montevideo in 2009.
Technical and
Development Co-operation
14. India offers 5 ITEC scholarships to Uruguay
every year. Seven diplomats from Uruguay have attended various editions of the
Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of
Foreign Service in New Delhi. A proposal to set up an India-Uruguay Centre for
Excellence in Information Technology in Montevideo is under
process.
Indian
Community
15. There are approximately 1000 Indians
living in Uruguay, out of which about 500 are employees of TCS. The rest
include those employed with other IT companies and families of the employees
are residing in Montevideo.
16. During his visit in June 2023, Minister
of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Pralhad Joshi interacted with members of Indian
community in Montevideo. The Embassy organized an event at the premises of TCS
Montevideo to commemorate the Constitution Day on 26 November 2019 with members
of the Indian diaspora. Multilateral Organisations in Uruguay.
17. Uruguay hosts headquarters of MERCOSUR
in Montevideo, a trade bloc of southern LAC countries including Argentina,
Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. An India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement
(PTA) was signed on 25 January 2004 and became operational in June 2009.
Preferential duty (10-20 % in most cases) is given to selected Indian Products
entering MERCOSUR countries and vice versa.
18. The Latin American Integration
Association (ALADI) headquartered in Montevideo received a CII business
delegation in October 2019. Subsequently, Ambassador Bhatia delivered an
address on “India on the International Stage and its Relations with Latin
America: Commercial, Economic Challenges and Opportunities” on virtual platform
on 21 July 2020 for representatives of 13 Member States and resident
Ambassadors of various countries.
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03/09/2024
