India and Argentina have initiated a co-operative agreement to provide mutual assistance in customs operations and are to start negotiations regarding a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (“TIEA”).
The text of the customs agreement was initialed by the head of the Federal Administration of Public Revenue, Ricardo Echegaray, and the head of the Directorate General of Customs, Mary Siomara, after five days of negotiations. The Indian negotiation group was chaired by Vijai Lakshmi Sharma of India’s Customs administration and Rengaraj Viswanathande, China’s ambassador in Argentina.
The two countries also hope to start negotiations on signing a TIEA. The Argentine representatives will travel to New Delhi to begin talks on the exchange of tax information in late August.
India is the main buyer of Argentina’s soybean oil and will purchase an estimated USD 1,500 million worth by 2010.