India and Argentina on Monday agreed to step up technical and professional cooperation in the agricultural sector and foster trade in plants and animal products between the two countries.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Argentine Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Julián Andrés Domínguez and Indian Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar here.

A study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) released last Tuesday stressed the great integration potential between India and Latin America and called for closer economic ties to tap into "massive" trade and investment opportunities.

With 1.1 billion people and a scarcity of natural resources, relative to other continent-size nations, India has the potential to be a large buyer of agricultural and mineral goods, Latin America's main exports, said the study.

In a joint statement, the ministers drew attention to the "benefits of cooperation in the field of agriculture and the allied sectors including the agro industrial sector".

The two countries agreed to sign two memoranda of understanding (MoU) in the near future.

"An umbrella MoU between Indian Agriculture Ministry and the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries for cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors, and a MoU on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues for Bilateral Trade of Animal Products and Plant Products have been agreed" for signing, a release of the agriculture ministry said.

The visiting Argentine minister also invited Pawar to visit Argentina.