The Other BRIC in Latin America: India

When trade relations between Argentina and China hit choppy waters early last year, a new partner suddenly appeared on the horizon. In April 2010, Beijing stopped buying Argentine soybean oil in retaliation for Argentina’s restrictions on Chinese imports. That could have dealt a serious blow: Argentina is the world’s largest exporter of soybean oil, and China is the world’s largest importer. Efforts by the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner failed to resolve the trade spat.

Enter India, which promptly tripled its own imports of Argentine soybean oil from $606 million in 2009 to $1.8 billion in 2010 (Chinese imports over that same period dropped from $1.8 billion to $240 million). This was followed by mutual visits between Argentine Minister of Agriculture Julián Domínguez and his Indian counterpart, Sharad Pawar, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation. Total trade between Argentina and India reached $2.5 billion in 2010 and is likely to reach $3 billion in 2011.

Welcome to the new kid on the block in Latin America.

Read the full text of the article at AmericasQuarterly.org.

Jorge Heine holds the CIGI Chair in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario.

R. Viswanathan currently serves as India's ambassador to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.