Indian exploers' 35000 km overland expedition to begin this week - Times of India

MUMBAI: A 35,000 km overland expedition from Arctic to Antarctic is the latest enterprise by India to build ties with the resource-rich Latin America. Led by explorer Akhil Bakshi, the 4-month expedition will start this week at Dead Horse Creek on Arctic Ocean in Alaska and pass through the US west coast before entering Latin and South America and ending at Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of the continent. Foreign minister Salman Khurshid said the initiative is supported by MEA and that Indian missions across the continent have been asked to facilitate the journey being undertaken by Bakshi and his companion Rajendra Jain, a surgeon. The focus of the expedition will be climate change, said Bakshi. "During the journey meetings will be held with environment scientists, metrologists, hydrographers and agronomists to study action being taken by various countries on monitoring the status of climate change and on their preparedness to meet the challenge," said Bakshi, who will present a report to the ministry of environment and forests on his findings during the expedition. As the rupee suffers from a free fall, India is hoping that at least its exports will receive a boost and for that it is looking to widen its trade arrangements with countries in South America. It is already offering fiscal sops to exporters who are willing to explore markets in the continent. "We can do with a little more awareness about India in a continent we hardly have any people to people contact with and in that way we believe this expedition will indeed help," said a foreign ministry official. via Science - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGz6cHEce5k8aFAePHCgcnOoR534A&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Indian-exploers-35000-km-overland-expedition-to-begin-this-week/articleshow/22201561.cms

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