External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar reaffirmed India’s growing partnership with the Central American Integration System (SICA) countries, highlighting trade, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, information technology, and digital payments as key areas of collaboration during the India-SICA Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New York.
Jaishankar expressed optimism about increasing Indian investments in SICA economies, particularly in agriculture, clean energy, healthcare, and IT. “We are very encouraged by the growing interest of Indian companies to invest in SICA countries,” he said.
A major highlight of the discussions was India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which Jaishankar described as a transformative, low-cost digital payments system. He offered to share this model with SICA nations to strengthen their financial ecosystems, noting that more than half of the world’s cashless transactions today take place in India.
The minister also underlined India’s commitment to South-South cooperation, stressing that both India and SICA nations face shared challenges in poverty alleviation, sustainable development, and climate change. “We can address these more effectively if we address them together,” he remarked.
Reflecting on a decade of stronger engagement, Jaishankar recalled the 2023 Mechanism for Political Dialogue and Cooperation in Panama City, which reinforced the mutual intent to expand ties. He also highlighted recent visits by Union Minister of State Pabitra Margherita to multiple SICA countries, underscoring India’s sustained outreach.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Jaishankar met with Panama’s Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha and held discussions with several other counterparts, including from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Egypt, Australia, the UK, and Malaysia.
Earlier, addressing the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting hosted by South Africa at the UNGA sidelines, Jaishankar stressed the importance of dialogue, diplomacy, counterterrorism, and energy security in maintaining global stability.
