Concluding Remarks by Hon'ble President of India to the Media Party Accompanying Her-on Board Ai-1

Friends, I am happy to meet with you as we return to India after a long journey that has taken us together to Brazil, Mexico and Chile. It has been both an educative and productive visit. My discussions with President Lula, President Calderon and President Bachelet were warm, substantive and forward-looking.

My objective was to underline, at the highest level, that India's enhanced engagement in recent years with the countries of Latin America is here to stay.

In all the three countries that we visited, I found great admiration for India's cultural heritage and philosophy of non-violence, its commitment to democracy and its impressive progress in the economic and social sectors in recent years.

There is respect for India's growing role in international affairs and a keen desire to engage with India in a meaningful and cross-sectoral manner. You would all have noticed during our journey together that there are many similarities between India and the countries we visited. We also face similar challenges, domestically and internationally. Our dialogue was, therefore, focused and relevant to our respective needs.

In all three countries, my interlocutors stressed that my visit has helped to qualitatively upgrade our relationship.

I am particularly pleased that during my visit I had the opportunity to interact not only with the top political leadership but also with the other pillars of democracy, namely, the Parliament and the Judiciary. The visit was also marked by extensive discussions between an Indian business delegation and their counterparts.

This underlined our determination to provide a strong trade and economic foundation to our growing relationships with them.

You would all have noticed the great respect that our national leaders are accorded in Brazil, Mexico and Chile. Distance has not prevented leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore having an influence in their societies.My interaction with the Indian community was also most satisfying. They are playing an important part in the development of our relationship with the countries of Latin America.

Ten agreements were signed during my visit; four in Brazil, two in Mexico and four in Chile. These are part of the process of broadening and deepening our areas of partnership with these countries. My interlocutors agreed with me that we must implement these and other agreements to add substance and content to our bilateral partnerships.

In all three countries, I also found great interest in further developing cooperation with India in agriculture. This is an area of importance for all four of us, especially in the light of our common objective of continuing to ensure food security for our countries. IT, biotechnology and tourism among others, are also areas which have great potential. I also found great receptivity to my suggestion that Ayurveda could, like in India, be useful in Brazil, Mexico and Chile in the effort to provide low-cost but quality healthcare.

In all these countries, I found great interest in exchanging experiences and learning from each other's programs and activities to build more inclusive societies. This is particularly important in plural democratic societies such as ours. In this perspective, we also shared views on our approaches to the empowerment of women.

The visit also enabled me to have a useful exchange of views on issues of common concern on the international agenda such as Climate Change, Doha Round of Trade Negotiations and reform of the United Nations system. We agreed that it was important for us to continue to present a joint front on these issues, with a view to ensuring that our interests and those of other developing countries are protected and promoted. In the fight against terrorism, we were agreed that this menace, for which we have zero tolerance, must be defeated.

My visit has enabled me to establish a personal rapport with the Presidents of Brazil, Chile and Mexico. With President Calderon this was my second interaction. You will recall that he was the first Head of State I hosted after becoming the President of India. President Lula will be visiting India in October 2008 for the IBSA Summit and President Bachelet has expressed a desire to visit us next year in response to my invitation.

President Calderon has also been invited and has told me that he looks forward to his second visit to our country. These incoming high-level visits will help us further consolidate our relations with these important countries in Latin America. We are also expecting other high-level visits from Latin America in the coming months.

Friends, my visit has served to renew contacts and to strengthen our 'strategic partnership' with Brazil and the 'privileged partnership' with Mexico.

Chile and India are 'natural partners' and our cooperation is poised to develop further. It is our intention to enhance our relations in an across-the-board manner with all three countries, be it in trade, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, science and technology, education, energy, healthcare and culture. We are determined to overcome connectivity problems and take other necessary steps to facilitate the development of our ties, including people-to-people contacts.

I am deeply satisfied with my visit to Brazil, Chile and Mexico. This was a visit by an Indian President after many years and my first visit abroad after becoming President. This fact was well appreciated by our hosts in all three countries who recognized that this gesture reflects the priority that India attaches to its relations with these three countries and to the other countries of Latin America.

Our sentiment that we may be geographically distant but that our hearts are together, found overwhelming acceptance.

During our long journey together you would all have noticed the great warmth with which we were received. I am most grateful to our hosts for this.

Thank you!