Mr Deepak Bhojwani , a career diplomat who
has been the Ambassador to several countries in the Latin America in the last
12 years prominent being Venezuela, Columbia, Cuba among others and Consul
General at Sao Polo, Brazil addressed the students about the opportunities in
Latin America. The theme of his lecture was “India Brazil Economic
Cooperation”. He urged the students to shun the myths around Latin America,
which appears remote to most Indians. Mr Bhojwani described it as a land of 600
million people with per capita income as high as $15,000 which has great
opportunities for business.
Mr Bhojwani began with an introduction
about the region explaining about the rich history the continent has. He began
with how the continent was discovered, explaining along the way why Brazil was Portuguese
and the rest of the continent predominantly Spanish. He explained the
difference in colonization of Asia , Africa and South America. He also pointed
out the difference between the inhabitants of Caribbean and parts of This in turn has had a great influence in the way
Latin America behaves and thinks. The influence United States has had on the
region and the rise and fall of left leaning dictators.
Mr Bhojwani elucidated the numerous reasons
why Latin America needs to be looked in a new light and highlighted the absence
of credible sources on the region. Some of the key opportunities according to
him were:
A)
The continent is endowed with
Mineral wealth for eg: Petroleum ( Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela), Natural Gas ( In
Bolivia, Uruguay) etc , Iron Ore, Copper, Lithium, Gold etc.
B)
The presence of unified markets
being created in form of Mercusor, Pacific Alliance and an Alliance of Latin
American Countries (CELAC )creates new business opportunities.
C)
The relatively peaceful neighbors
( last time a major war that was fought between neighbors was over 150 years
back).
D)
The prosperity of the people,
the population being 6/10 of India and spread over an area that is over 5 times
the size of India with high per capita income ( over 10 times the Indian per
capita income) cannot be ignored for long
E)
The favorable image India has
in the minds of Latin Americans
He discussed in detail about how the
engagement with Latin Countries and particularly Brazil have grown in the past
one decade ( during which he held prominent positions in Indian Embassies
across the region) but he pointed that a lot is required to be done to promote
bilateral trade. The trade has been limited to seeking resources from the
region in the form of crude, which formed the bulk of trade, along with other
natural reserves. The overall investment
by Indians in the region according to one estimate was over $15 billion but India
on the other hand has not seen the same. Mr Bhojwani expressed his hope that in
the coming years the visa policies for the region will be made more conducive
to allow businessmen to explore the region before investing and at the same
time stressed on the need to sign preferential trade agreements with the
countries to make the most out of the opportunities that exist.
The students asked about the safety of
business in the region and the instability of the business regimes and also
tried to understand the cultural nuances in terms of doing business in Latin
America. The students tried to understand the various policies India has to
promote Indian Business in the region and also were intrigued how the region
especially Brazil, despite the similarities with India, has larger companies on
Fortune 500 than India and is now also facing a slowdown.
The session gave students a comprehensive
overview on doing business in Latin America and Mr Bhojwani complimented the students
on their keenness to learn about the region. He expressed his desire to come
back to the campus and talk more about the same.
