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The Minister of State for External Affairs, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh addressed the meeting of the Board of Ministers of Foreign Relations for the countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA Spanish acronym), held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on the 10th of February, 2005.
During the event held the Indian Delegation presented the Information Technology Training Centre Project for the SICA countries to be implemented with the support of India, who will contribute significantly to the technological development of the countries of the region, among others, through training activities and the transfer of technology in general.
The representatives from the Central American Integration System reaffirmed their gratitude to the Indian Government for offering cooperation for installing and starting the Training Centre. For this purpose they agreed to recommend that the national and regional SICA entities do whatever is necessary to support this effort as soon as possible.
Likewise, the SICA Ministers shared with Shri Singh the agreement on behalf of the Presidents of the Region during the recent Extraordinary Summit, for “creating a Central American Humanitarian Joint Support Force, coordinated by the Health Ministers, to offer technical aid to the Asian countries devastated by the Tsunami”.
At the same time, the occasion was appropriate to share information regarding some issues, such as the procedure for business visas for citizens of India that wish to visit the SICA countries, interested in developing business or investment with partners or possible partnerships in the Region. On this particular topic, the Central American Ministers expressed their goodwill for analysing mechanisms to facilitate special treatment, whether at regional or bilateral level for obtaining business visas.
Shri Singh repeated his offer for making credit lines available for specific projects for SICA countries, which would allow support of their development efforts and would contribute to a greater insertion in the international market.
In the multi-lateral agenda, both sides coincided on the need for an integrated reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council, geared to transforming into an organization of a wider representation based on democratic principles of equity in international relations.
The Ministers of Foreign Relations from SICA member countries and the State Minister of Foreign Affairs of India, agreed to continue working towards implementing joint activities in the frame of a Mechanism of Political and Cooperation dialogue between India and the States belonging to the Central American Integration System.
AK/SK/LG
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