India-El Salvador: Third Foreign Office Consultations held

WHY IN THE NEWS?

India and El Salvador held their Third Foreign Office Consultations in San Salvador.

About:

• The Indian side was led by Secretary (East), Riva Ganguly Das while and El Salvadoran side was led by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Integration & Economic Promotion, Ambassador Adriana Maria Mira.
• During the consultations, both of them noted the warm and friendly relations between India and El Salvador.
• They also reviewed the bilateral relations in all the fields including health, trade & investment, tourism, energy, aquaculture, transport, aviation & infrastructure, consular & development partnership and culture.
• Both the countries decided to exchange their best practices in the area of public diplomacy.
• They also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest such as cooperation in the United Nations and finally agreed to work closely across the multilateral arena.

El Salvador–India relations

Diplomatic relations between both countries were established on February 12, 1979. Embassy of El Salvador in London was accredited to India until June 2008 when El Salvador established its embassy in New Delhi. El Salvador currently maintains its embassy in New Delhi as well as an honorary consulate in Bangalore. Embassy of India in Guatemala is accredited to El Salvador. India has also an honorary consulate in San Salvador.

Consultations between both the countries

Both the countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding in February 2004 to hold regular consultations between the respective foreign ministries. First Foreign Office Consultations were held in August 2012. In 2012 itself, they also signed an agreement on co-operation in the field of science, technology & innovation