Autor: editor filigrama

Much of the attention on Latin America’s engagement with extra-hemispheric actors has focused on China, Russia, and Iran, with often explicit or implied consternation on the part of the United States. Yet a key extra-hemispheric partner with 1.25 billion people has been almost invisible in this discussion: India.

In the past 15 years, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India’s bilateral trade with Latin America and the Caribbean has grown more than twenty-fold, reaching $44.6 billion in 2013. Although this is much less than China’s $289.3 billion in trade with the region in 2013, the rate at which India has expanded its trade is similar to China’s expansion of trade with the region, with India merely beginning later and from a lower point. Moreover, as China’s growth rate slows, and the value of its imports from Latin America correspondingly decreases, India’s economy is expected to grow 7.6% this year and 7.7% in 2016—a rate greater than that of China.

Even if India is not yet as significant a commercial partner as China, the characteristics of its engagement with the region offer important opportunities for the region’s companies and governments, as well as for the United States. India, like China, has a growing appetite for commodities and foodstuffs, for which Latin America and the Caribbean is already an important supplier. Indeed, when China abruptly suspended its imports of Argentine soy oil in 2010,India tripled its own imports of Argentine soy products to $1.8 billion. Similarly, Mexico and Colombia are important sources of oil for India.

Soruce: http://latinamericagoesglobal.org/2015/06/time-to-talk-about-india-and-latin-america/

China and India, the world’s No. 1 and No. 3 greenhouse gas emitters, projected a united front on climate change on Friday with a rare joint statement that asked rich countries to step up efforts to reduce global carbon emissions.

«The two sides urged the developed countries to raise their pre-2020 emission reduction targets and honor their commitment to provide $100 billion per year by 2020 to developing countries,» the statement said.

While both countries stopped short of making any commitments, they said they would submit their respective plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions well before crucial global climate talks are held in Paris later this year.

India, which is the world’s No. 3 emitter of greenhouse gases, has been under pressure to make commitments after the top two emitters – China and the United States – agreed to new limits on carbon emissions starting in 2025.

Modi has signaled he will not bow to foreign pressure and will instead focus on increased use of clean energy to fight the adverse effects of climate change. He wants to quintuple India’s renewable energy capacity by 2022.

India cannot commit to emissions cuts as it still needs to industrialize and lift millions of people out of poverty, the government says.

Sees more: http://news.yahoo.com/india-china-commit-together-climate-change-075806343.html