India and Uruguay

Embassy of India
Buenos Aires
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INDIA-URUGUAY BILATERAL RELATIONS

Political Relations

The Embassy of India in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is concurrently accredited to Uruguay. Diplomatic relations between two democratic countries were established in 1960. Uruguay has an Embassy in New Delhi and an Honorary Consulate in Mumbai.

Bilateral Interactions

The then Prime Minister of India Ms. Indira Gandhi visited Uruguay in 1968. The then Vice Presidents of Uruguay, Mr. Danilo Angel Astori Saragosa, and Dr. Hugo Fernandez Faingold visited India in 2011 and 1999 respectively. Uruguayan President Mr. Luis Lacalle Pou participated in 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS) held virtually on 17 August 2024.
Ministerial-level interactions and visits between the two countries have taken place from time to time. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Omar Paganini, met Minister of State, Mr. V. Murleedharan, on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Rio de Janeiro in February 2024. Earlier, Uruguayan Education Minister Pablo da Silveira took part in the 1st edition of VOGSS held virtually in January 2023, and Mr. Omar Paganini, Minister of Foreign Affairs, participated in the 2nd edition of VOGSS held virtually in November 2023. In the 3rd VOGSS, Vice Minister of Social Development Ms. Andrea Brugman joined virtually in the Youth Session, while Executive Director of AGESIC Mr. Hebert Paguas took part in the Information Technology session.
External Affairs Minister (EAM), Dr. S. Jaishankar, had a telephonic conversation with the then Uruguayan Foreign Minister Mr. Ernesto Talvi on 29 April 2020 during Covid pandemic. Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Minister of Women and Child Development visited Uruguay and called on Vice President of Uruguay, Ms. Lucia Topolansky on 16 November 2017. Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Mr. Rodolfo Nin Novoa visited India in October 2015 with a commercial delegation to participate in the India-LAC Conclave.

A 10-member Parliamentary delegation led by Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs & Coal and Mines, Mr. Pralhad Joshi, visited Uruguay 14-17 June 2023. The delegation was received by Vice President & President of Senate Ms. Beatriz Argimón and President of Lower House of Parliament Mr. Sebastián Andújar. A Rajya Sabha delegation comprising four Members of Parliament participated in ‘2nd World Summit of Committees of Future’ in Montevideo on 25-27 September 2023. Earlier, a parliamentary delegation from India had visited Uruguay in 2012 and a Parliamentary delegation from Uruguay visited India in 2010.
Foreign Office Consultations have been institutionalized between the two countries through an Agreement signed in 1999. The 6th round of FOC was held on 16 September 2024 in Montevideo, Secretary (East) Jaideep Muzumdar and Deputy Foreign Minister (DFM) Nicolás Albertoni chaired the meeting. The fifth round of FOCs was held on 06 March 2023 in New Delhi for which DFM Nicolás Albertoni visited India. During the visit, he also participated in the Raisina Dialogue 2023 and had meeting with Ministers of External Affairs and Commerce & Industry.
Four young political leaders from Uruguay participated in the third edition of ICCR’s Gen-Next Democracy Program in July 2022. Six journalists from mainstream media have visited India under XP Division’s familiarization programs, four in 2023 & two in 2024.

Economic and Commercial Relations

In 2024, bilateral trade stood at USD 310.44 million, of which Indian exports constituted USD 223.90 million and imports from Uruguay were USD 86.54 (Source - Datamyne; in USD million). Plastics, petroleum oils, vehicles, auto parts, and organic chemicals are the main exports from India to Uruguay. Timber, shorn wool, edible oils, iron and steel casings and tubes, and inorganic chemicals are the main exports from Uruguay to India.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) established its software development and regional training centres in Montevideo in 2002, the first in Latin America. The company now employs more than 3,500 people, including about 500 Indians. Another Indo-American company, Infogain, opened its delivery center in Montevideo in April 2022.

Cultural Relations

Yoga and meditation are popular in Uruguay, with several hundred followers of Sai Baba, ISKCON, Art of Living, Brahma Kumaris, and other Indian yoga and spiritual groups. All editions of the International Day of Yoga (IDY) in the country have seen enthusiastic participation from large numbers of Uruguayans. Ambassador Dinesh Bhatia and Mrs. Seema Bhatia, along with Senator Carmen Sanguinetti, inaugurated the 10th IDY celebration on June 23, 2024, organized in association with AgNIY (Association of Yoga Institutes in Uruguay), which included participation from more than 20 yoga schools and hundreds of yoga enthusiasts.
The 9th Ayurveda Day was celebrated in Uruguay on 02 November 2024i.e on Dhanvantari Jayanti in collaboration with Asociacion Uruguaya de Medicina Ayurvedica (AUMA), a non-profit organization formed with the objective of promoting the knowledge of Ayurveda in Uruguay.
As part of Gandhi@150 celebrations, a commemorative stamp and a philatelic sheet on Mahatma Gandhi was launched in Montevideo on 27 November 2019 at the premises of the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry. In February 2011, the Uruguayan postal department issued a stamp to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

A seven-member Kuttiyattam troupe led by Mr. Sooraj Nambiar of SNA Kuttiyattam Kendra gave performances in Uruguay in March 2018. An Odissi performance was organized in Montevideo in March 2015. A mini-Festival of India was organized in Montevideo in 2009.

Technical and Development Co-operation

India offers 5 ITEC scholarships to Uruguay every year. Seven diplomats from Uruguay have attended various editions of the Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service in New Delhi. A proposal to set up an India-Uruguay Centre for Excellence in Information Technology in Montevideo is under process.

Indian Community

There are approximately 1000 Indians living in Uruguay, out of which about 500 are employees of TCS. The rest include those employed with other IT companies and families of the employees are residing in Montevideo.
During his visit in June 2023, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Pralhad Joshi interacted with members of Indian community in Montevideo. The Embassy organized an event at the premises of TCS Montevideo to commemorate the Constitution Day on 26 November 2019 with members of the Indian diaspora. Multilateral Organisations in Uruguay.
Uruguay hosts headquarters of MERCOSUR in Montevideo, a trade bloc of southern LAC countries including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. An India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) was signed on 25 January 2004 and became operational in June 2009. Preferential duty (10-20 % in most cases) is given to selected Indian Products entering MERCOSUR countries and vice versa.
The Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) headquartered in Montevideo received a CII business delegation in October 2019. Subsequently, Ambassador Bhatia delivered an address on “India on the International Stage and its Relations with Latin America: Commercial, Economic Challenges and Opportunities” on virtual platform on 21 July 2020 for representatives of 13 Member States and resident Ambassadors of various countries.