Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will tour Guyana, Panama, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, beginning on April 21, as New Delhi tries to shape its leadership in the Global South.
Jaishankar, who since he took office in 2019 has not visited these countries, will begin his tour in Guyana, from April 21 to 23, to continue for two days in Panama, on the 24th and 25th, Colombia, on the 25th and 27th, before to conclude in the Dominican Republic from the 27th to the 29th of this month, the Indian government reported in a statement.
"The minister’s visit to these four countries, his bilateral commitments, as well as interactions with counterparts from important regional groups (…) add to the momentum of the India-LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) commitments."according to the Indian authorities.
In Georgetown, the Indian foreign minister will meet Guyanese government officials and co-chair the joint commission with his counterpart, Hugh Hilton Todd.
The Indian Foreign Ministry marked this as an opportunity to meet with the ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), within the framework of the Council on Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), a fifteen-member group.
From there he will continue to Panama, where he will meet with the government leadership in an activity led by the Panamanian Foreign Minister, Janaina Tewaney Mencomo, and there he will have the opportunity to talk with representatives of the Central American Integration System (SICA).
The visit to Colombia will be the first by an Indian foreign minister to this country, and during it he hopes to meet with various representatives of the Government, companies and civil society.
In the case of the Dominican Republic, that of Jaishankar "it is India’s highest-level visit since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1999"according to the New Delhi note.
New Delhi has also received a significant number of Latin American government officials in recent months, seeking a rapprochement with the Asian giant, and has referred on several occasions to its efforts for greater rapprochement.
India, which this year chairs the G-20, has sought a new voice of leadership that is gaining strength as this country, which this year will become the most populous in the world, experiences a situation of relative stability with hopeful prospects for your economy.