Argentina is open to expanding bilateral as well as multilateral nuclear cooperation with India, ambassador of Argentina Hugo Javier Gobbi said on Wednesday. Speaking to The Hindu exclusively, the senior diplomat said Argentina shared India's vision for a multipolar world and would pursue membership at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) while deepening commercial and political links with India with a perspective of "south-south" cooperation.
"We have always been supportive of India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). At the moment, the Secretary General of the International Atomic Energy Agency is Rafael Grossi who is an Argentinian and we are looking for cooperation that will involve the organisation as well as Argentina and India," said Mr. Gobbi. India has been campaigning for a seat at the NSG and the issue was raised by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on June 7 when he talked indirectly of China's opposition to India's role in the NSG while referring to "political impediments" that have been preventing India's inclusion into the grouping. Mr. Gobbi said that his country's collaboration with India's nuclear sector covered a whole range of areas such as energy and health requirements.
Argentina's state-run company INVAP is building a facility in India to produce molybdenum-99 that has diverse utility in nuclear medicine and diagnostic sciences. Mr. Gobbi said that the facility was near completion and was likely to be inaugurated in Mumbai in August saying, "We hope more such projects will be developed between us."
Ukraine crisis
He said Argentina which was invited to be a guest at the June 23-24 BRICS summit hosted by China shared India's understanding towards solving the crisis in Ukraine which must be resolved "diplomatically".
In fact, Buenos Aires and New Delhi have come closer in recent months as both sides are recalibrating positions to deal with the fast-changing world. In April, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero visited India and expressed Argentina's gratitude for India's backing of United Nations resolutions on the Malvinas (Falklands) issue. Argentina and the United Kingdom fought a war over the territorial dispute in the southern Atlantic Ocean in 1982, and this year, Argentina has revived its international campaign to convince the United Kingdom to restart negotiations over the status of the disputed archipelago.
"The territories involved are located almost 14,000 km away from the United Kingdom. Anybody who looks at the map can see how absurd the situation is. We would like a negotiation with the UK to come to a process for decolonisation of the islands to bring it back to Argentina's sovereignty in a peaceful diplomatic way," said Mr. Gobbi arguing that the territorial issue was a major hurdle to the developing of Argentina's ties with the United Kingdom. He said that India and Argentina had a common cause as both had suffered under colonialism.
Meeting with PM Modi
The common threads have also contributed to deepening of political ties. Two days after President Alberto Fernandez attended the BRICS meeting virtually, he had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Munich where both India and Argentina were invited as guests to participate in special sessions of the G7 summit.
The two countries are aiming to take bilateral trade from $5.7 billion to $7 billion during the near future as both sides are trying to diversify and expand economic links. "There is a great interest in India regarding lithium of Argentina and our reserve of copper, gold and silver. There is also the oil and gas and the renewable energy sector," said Mr. Gobbi who emphasised that the bilateral cooperation in sunflower oil production was an example of how agriculture cooperation was being shaped by the two sides. "Argentina has a great capacity to produce sunflower oil and other edible oils. But one of the main producers of seeds for sunflower is an Indian company — UPL. So, the more Argentina produces sunflower oil, the more UPL will sell seeds in Argentina — so you can see how our economies are entering a win-win relationship," said the ambassador.
Argentina, he said, had asked formally to join the BRICS as it shared the vision of multipolarity and global inclusivity like India and other member countries of the group.
"We have well recognised capacity in nuclear field, space, and IT. In agriculture, we are a major power. We produce food for 450 million people while we have a population of 45 million. We are very significant member of the Spanish-speaking world and we have significant influence in culture and movies and we see BRICS as an area of cooperation that will enrich our links with the member-countries, particularly with India," said Mr. Gobbi arguing for Argentina's membership in BRICS.
