El Salvador is keen to attract investments from Indian companies in the energy, ITeS, pharma, manufacturing and textiles sectors, the Central American country’s envoy said. In an interaction with journalists at The Hindu here on Tuesday, Ariel Andrade Galindo, El Salvador’s Ambassador to India, said the country was looking to diversify its energy sources. “We are trying to change our basket of sources of energy from fossil fuels. We also have growing needs for more energy. We are looking at possibilities, also have geothermal energy because there are more than 40 volcanoes in El Salvador. We have been working on these,” Mr. Galindo said. The Ambassador said the country was looking at different forms of energy such as solar, wind, and biomass. Indian companies investing in El Salvador would be provided concessions including on land, tax exemptions, and duty-free import of equipment. Jumbo ties The Ambassador also spoke of El Salvador’s ties with ‘Manjula’, an Indian elephant that was sent to the country in the 1950s through Germany and died in 2010. “She became an icon in El Salvador, it was the only elephant in the country,” he said. “The day Manjula died, people got really sad…there was national mourning.” Yashwanth Kumar Venkatraman, El Salvador’s Honorary Consul in Chennai, said one of the first assignments that had been given to him at the time of his appointment was to try to get an elephant. “The Ambassador said Manjula was dying and we want another elephant,” he said.
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