Latin America, where prices of medicines are 3-20 times higher than in India, will be the focus of the Confederation of Indian Industry's meet in Mumbai and Hyderabad, to be held on Monday and Tuesday.

The representatives from the drugs and pharmaceuticals industry in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela will interact with Indian pharmaceutical companies.

A CII release issued in Mumbai said: "Senior representatives from formulation laboratories, importers of formulated pharmaceuticals, importers of bulk drugs and major drugs and pharmaceutical distributors from Latin America will attend the meet."

The region has emerged as one of the fastest growing export destinations of India with many countries recording substantial gross domestic product growth in the recent past.

The region presents a combined market of 508 million people in 33 countries, 75 per cent of which are urban.

Latin America's imports increased three times from $113 billion in 1991 to $332 billion in 2002, and its share of world imports have gone up from 3.7 per cent in 1990 to 6.1 per cent in 2001.

Trade between India and Latin America has increased from $473.66 million in 1991-92 to $2445.44 million in 2001-02.

India enjoys a fair share of this market as a supplier of bulk drugs, drug intermediates and generics including generic formulations.

Since most Latin American countries do not produce bulk drugs, India has become a regular supplier.