For a region separated from India by oceans and habit, Latin America and the Caribbean have been moving steadily closer. Trade has expanded, diplomatic engagement has intensified, Indian companies have built operations across the region, and Latin American businesses are looking towards India with greater purpose. Yet the relationship continues to carry an old burden: distance is too often treated not merely as a logistical challenge, but almost as destiny. It was against this contradiction that LAC FIRST: India–Latin America & Caribbean Business & Diplomatic Conference organised by India Empire and supported by Institutional & Knowledge Partner—the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) opened at the auditorium in Niryat Bhawan, New Delhi, on June 24, bringing diplomats, trade leaders, former policymakers, corporate executives and exporters into a room where the central question was not whether opportunity existed, but why so much of it remained unexplored.

Opening the gathering, Sayantan Chakravarty, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of India Empire and Organiser of LAC FIRST, described the initiative as more than a conference. “It is a platform and it’s a corridor,” he said, enabling ideas, investments, institutions, technology, tourism and trust to move more freely between India and the Latin American and Caribbean region. The purpose was to bring governments, businesses, academic institutions, investors and thought leaders together to explore possibilities, forge partnerships and convert goodwill into tangible outcomes.