Defence relationship between New Delhi and Buenos Aires developing at fast pace: Argentinian envoy

By Ayushi Agarwal
New Delhi [India], August 9 : The defence relationship between New Delhi and Buenos Aires is expanding and developing at a very fast pace and the Argentine authorities are very much impressed with India’s technology, Argentine Ambassador to India, Hugo Javier Gobbi said on Wednesday.
Speaking with ANI, the envoy affirmed Argentinian interest in Indian airplanes and weapon systems.
“We have many delegations coming. We opened our office of Military Attache and the way things have gone forward is really extraordinary. We have seen the Brahmos. It's incredible technology and India has shown its capacity to develop systems and very sophisticated weapons systems. Our authorities have been very impressed,” said the Argentine envoy.
“We had the Minister of Defence here. We have the Chief of Staff. We have the Air Force chief coming to India twice, and we also have more than 60 military delegations coming. Many delegations from India go to Argentina. So, I think that area is expanding and developing very fast,” he added.  
Earlier in July, during his New Delhi visit, Argentinian Defence Minister, Jorge Enrique Taiana held talks with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh and discussed measures to bolster the bilateral defence relationship.
He travelled to Bengaluru and visited the facilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and separately interacted with the defence start-ups in an event organised by Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX).
As both countries are negotiating deals related to Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and BrahMos missiles, the envoy said that “These are very complex negotiations that have many elements taken into consideration and that we are looking very closely to the helicopter”.
“We signed an agreement on maintenance of helicopters already with HAL. We are looking at India's aeroplanes, which have also shown India's capacity to develop the technology. And there are many possibilities of cooperation both ways, in industrial cooperation and in the defence area”, the envoy added.
Speaking further about the bilateral relations between the two countries, he said that the relationship has evolved very positively in an “extraordinary way” and there is a lot of political will and commitment to develop these relationships much further.
“In the last few years, our trade has expanded in many fields enormously. In the last two years, the relationship has gotten broader in many areas that were not considered before. Like defence developed very quickly. Also science and technology cooperation and nuclear field space area. So, we can only say that it has been a great success and both sides are very happy about how things are developing”, said the envoy.
Speaking on the Russia-Ukraine war, Gobbi said that the issue is not on the agenda specifically, but added that India is being very ‘intelligent’ on the issue.
“Well, the war in Ukraine is not on the agenda specifically because of the space for economic cooperation and development, cooperation and environment. It's actually a space to look for solutions to many of the global problems that are not fully related to geopolitics. But there are many countries, especially the G-7, who say that the war in Ukraine has much significance and has an impact on economic and other issues. So it has to be considered,” the Argentine envoy said.
He added, “The discussion is very difficult because there will be no agreement or very difficult to come to an agreement on this issue. And actually what we see is India is being very intelligent."
Backing India’s G20 agenda, the envoy believes that India acting as a voice of the Global South is impressive and it did something extraordinary with its inclusion in the beginning.
“India has placed a very strong agenda that considers the needs of the Global South, where most of the growth is coming from, for the world economy. And so I think we fully back India's agenda, and India’s leadership in the G20”, said the envoy.
He added, “Under India’s leadership, it did something extraordinary at the beginning of the G20 process. It called all of the global south countries to be involved in a video conference with a very different perspective. India didn't go and tell them what did you do? India went and asked what we can do for you. And that was the reply and satisfaction of the global south. So, India is playing a very significant role in getting an agenda forward in very difficult circumstances and moving forward many agreements that were considered impossible to reach before the G20 presidency started”.