NASSAU: Visit of Minister of State for External Affairs to Guatemala, Jamaica and the Bahamas

NASSAU: Minister of State (MoS), Ministry of External
Affairs, Shri. V. Muraleedharan will be paying an official visit to Guatemala,
Jamaica and The Bahamas from 5-10 July 2021. This will be his first visit to
these countries as MoS. During the visit, he will call on the top leadership
and meet with Foreign Ministers of these countries.

MoS Shri. V. Muraleedharan’s visit to Guatemala (5-6 July) will follow up on
the visit in May 2018 of Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah
Naidu. He will also meet Guatemalan Minister of Economy. He will interact with
the business community including the Heads of Chambers of Commerce &
Industry of Guatemala with a view to enhance bilateral trade (currently US$
309.86 million) and boost investments. MoS will also interact with the Indian
community in Guatemala. Guatemala is the current Pro-tempore President of
Central American Integration system (SICA) with which India has an established
engagement mechanism.

MoS will visit Jamaica from 7-8 July. This will be the first visit by an Indian
Minister to Jamaica in 4 years. In addition to his official engagements, MoS
will inaugurate the bust of Mahatma Gandhi at May Pen city and visit the Old
Harbour Bay where the first Indians landed in Jamaica 175 years ago. He will
also interact with a wide cross-section of the Jamaican society comprising
business leaders and Indian community members.

The visit of MoS to The Bahamas (9-10 July) will be the first standalone high
level visit from India to this Caribbean island. In addition to his official
meetings, MoS will interact with the Bahamian society comprising of business
leaders and Indian community members.

India’s relations with Jamaica and Bahamas have been cordial and based on
democracy, membership of the commonwealth, English language and cultural
heritage. They also support each other’s candidatures at various multilateral
fora.

The visit of MoS will provide an opportunity for reviewing the progress in our
bilateral ties and further strengthening of our multifaceted relationship with
all the three countries, including in SICA and the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM).