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The Fourth Meeting of the India-Argentina Joint Trade Committee was held on 24 August 2026 at Palacio San Martin, Buenos Aires, with Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal leading India and Ambassador Fernando Brun, Secretary for International Economic Relations, leading Argentina.
Bilateral trade crossed USD 6.5 billion in 2025 with consistent annual growth of over 17 per cent; India is now Argentina's fifth-largest trading partner.
KABIL's lithium project in Catamarca province - the first lithium mining initiative by an Indian company in Argentina - has completed Phase II drilling, with the provinces of Salta and Jujuy being explored next.
Argentina committed to work towards upgrading India from Annex II to Annex I under its pharmaceutical regulatory framework; sanitary and phytosanitary talks advanced on Indian onions, milk and milk products, grapes, potatoes, bananas and pulses.
The India-Argentina Business Forum on 25 August 2026 hosted the first and largest-ever Indian business delegation to Argentina - over 25 business leaders including UPL, Kirloskar and the Aditya Birla Group.
Build a resilient value chain for critical minerals vital to green technologies, cut import dependence and secure overseas assets. Approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 January 2025 with an outlay of Rs 34,300 crore over seven years (FY 2024-25 to FY 2030-31); administered by the Ministry of Mines.
Key: India's list of 30 critical minerals (identified by a Ministry of Mines committee and notified in 2023) includes lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earth elements, graphite, silicon and copper; 24 of them sit in Part D of Schedule I of the MMDR Act, 1957, which lets the Centre auction them directly. KABIL's Argentina work is the overseas-acquisition arm of this effort.
Give reciprocal tariff preferences between India and the MERCOSUR bloc. A Framework Agreement was signed in 2003, the PTA itself in 2004, and it entered into force in 2009.
Key: Covers roughly 450 tariff lines with limited duty concessions - a PTA, not an FTA, so its product coverage is narrow. It is implemented through five annexes covering tariff concessions on both sides, rules of origin, safeguard measures and dispute settlement. The JTC noted progress on the Terms of Reference for expanding it, plus the adoption of digital certificates of origin.
Regulatory cooperation between Argentina's medicines regulator ANMAT (National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Devices) and India's CDSCO, to ease approval of Indian pharmaceutical products in Argentina.
Key: The 2026 JTC built on it with a commitment to joint initiatives in Ayurveda and Yoga, alongside the Annex II to Annex I upgrade sought for Indian pharma.
Incorporated on 8 August 2019 to identify, explore, acquire, develop, mine, process and procure strategic minerals overseas for supply to India. It signed an exploration and development contract with Argentina's provincial mining company CAMYEN SE for five lithium brine blocks covering 15,703 hectares in Catamarca - the first lithium exploration and mining project by an Indian government company anywhere.
Argentina's national space agency, formed on 28 May 1991, functioning under Argentina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship. Its satellite programme runs on the SAC, SAOCOM and SARE series. The JTC discussed a proposed ISRO-CONAE meeting on space and nuclear cooperation.
India's National Regulatory Authority for drugs, cosmetics and medical devices, functioning under the Directorate General of Health Services. It approves new drugs and clinical trials, lays down drug standards and controls the quality of imported drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
South American trade bloc created by the Treaty of Asuncion, signed at Asuncion, Paraguay on 26 March 1991. Founding members: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - the same four that are parties to the PTA with India.
SPS measures are the food-safety and animal- and plant-health rules a country applies to imports. They are governed by the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, which entered into force with the WTO itself on 1 January 1995. The Agreement preserves a government's sovereign right to set the level of health protection it thinks appropriate, but requires those standards to be based on science, applied only to the extent needed to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and not used to discriminate arbitrarily between countries in similar conditions. Because they are rules rather than duties, SPS requirements are non-tariff measures: an Indian onion consignment can face a zero tariff and still be kept out by a pest-risk rule. That is why the JTC's technical-level SPS talks on onions, dairy, grapes, potatoes, bananas and pulses matter more to exporters than a tariff cut would.
Simple Analogy: A tariff is a paid entry ticket; an SPS measure is the health check at the door. Buying the ticket does not get you in if you fail the check.
Argentina is the second-largest country in South America. Its capital, Buenos Aires, sits on the Atlantic coast; the Parana is its longest river at about 4,700 km; the Pampas grasslands form the agricultural heartland and hold the bulk of the population; and Cerro Aconcagua in the Andes, at about 6,961 m, is the highest peak in the Americas and the highest anywhere outside Asia. The country's lithium sits in high-altitude salt flats in the northwest, in the provinces where KABIL is working - Catamarca now, with Salta and Jujuy under exploration. These form part of the 'Lithium Triangle' shared with Bolivia and Chile, whose three defining salt pans are the Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia), the Salar de Atacama (Chile) and the Salar del Hombre Muerto (Argentina). USGS data from January 2021 placed about 58 per cent of the world's identified lithium resources in these three countries. Argentina is also a G20 member and hosted the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires in 2018.
Lithium is a binding constraint on India's battery and EV ambitions. KABIL's Catamarca blocks, the National Critical Mineral Mission's Rs 34,300 crore, and the auction of critical mineral blocks under Part D of Schedule I of the MMDR Act, 1957 are three arms of the same strategy - overseas acquisition, domestic exploration and domestic auction.
The India-MERCOSUR arrangement is a Preferential Trade Agreement - tariff concessions on a limited list of about 450 lines. An FTA eliminates duties on substantially all trade; a CECA/CEPA adds services and investment. Exams routinely test which instrument India has with which partner.
India's agricultural exports are blocked far more often by SPS and technical barriers than by tariffs - the same pattern seen with Indian mangoes, shrimp and dairy in other markets. The Argentina talks are one instance of a recurring problem.
The proposed ISRO-CONAE meeting fits India's pattern of using space cooperation as a diplomatic instrument, alongside joint missions, ground stations abroad and commercial launches of foreign satellites.
GS Paper 2 > International Relations > Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India
General Awareness > Current Affairs > International Relations
Critical minerals and India's bilateral trade agreements have been recurring Prelims and GS-2/GS-3 themes since the National Critical Mineral Mission's approval in January 2025.
Khanij Bidesh India Ltd - a joint venture of NALCO, Hindustan Copper Ltd and Mineral Exploration and Consultancy Ltd, incorporated 8 August 2019 to secure critical minerals abroad for India.
The Argentina-Bolivia-Chile region holding roughly 58% of the world's identified lithium resources, defined by the salt flats Salar del Hombre Muerto, Salar de Uyuni and Salar de Atacama.
Food-safety and animal/plant-health regulations applied to imports, disciplined by the WTO SPS Agreement in force since 1 January 1995; a non-tariff measure.
Southern Common Market, created by the Treaty of Asuncion of 26 March 1991; founding members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
A standing bilateral government mechanism to review trade, market access and investment issues between two countries.