Lima, Jan. 21, 2010.- During an official visit to Peru, India’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, attended a high-level meeting with Andean Community Secretary General, Freddy Ehlers, the Chair Pro Tempore of the CAN and the Andean Ambassadors accredited to Lima.

At that time, Minister Tharoor transmitted the friendly greetings of the government of India and expressed his country’s interest in strengthening political and economic relations and cooperation with the Andean Community.    

The Andean Community Secretary General, in turn, expressed his pleasure over the Minister’s visit and the prospect of shortly being able to act jointly in areas like, for example, the environment, energy and food security, rural development and science and technology.   

After a brief exchange of opinions about matters of global interest, the Chair Pro Tempore of the Andean Community reiterated the interest of the Member Countries in holding the First Meeting of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism.    

The Indian Foreign Minister and the Andean Community Secretary General sent a supportive greeting to the people of Haiti and agreed upon the importance of international coordination of the efforts to secure that country’s immediate recovery and of the need to contribute medium- and long-term solutions for its reconstruction.