India and Argentina have moved closer on opening up pharmaceutical market access, following fresh trade talks held this week in Buenos Aires.

Argentina has agreed to work on upgrading India’s status from Annex II to Annex I under its pharmaceutical regulatory framework, the commerce ministry said.

That shift would make it easier for Indian drugmakers to get approvals and sell their products in Argentina, cutting through some of the current entry barriers.

The government said this could open fresh opportunities for Indian pharma companies and help improve access to affordable medicines in Argentina.

The talks happened during Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal’s visit to Buenos Aires, where the India-Argentina Joint Trade Committee met on August 24 at Palacio San Martín.

Farm trade came up too. Both sides reported progress on getting Indian agricultural products into the Argentine market. The trade relationship itself has been on an upswing.

Bilateral trade crossed $6.5 billion in 2025, growing at more than 17% annually. India is now Argentina’s fifth largest trading partner. Lithium got its own share of attention.

KABIL, a joint venture of NALCO, Hindustan Copper and MECL, has been drilling in Argentina’s Catamarca region and recently completed Phase II of its lithium project there, India’s first such mining effort in the country.

Wider opportunities in mining, energy and infrastructure were also part of the conversation. The two countries flagged several newer areas of cooperation too: aviation, space technology, artificial intelligence, telecommunications and digital services, with a particular focus on 5G.

Separately, India and the Mercosur bloc, which groups Argentina with Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay, are working to expand their existing trade agreement, active since 2009, including a move toward digital certificates of origin to make cross-border trade smoother.

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