Indian-African partnership based on cooperation model.

PM Modi with African delegates on 23 May 2017. Source: PIB.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call for further strengthening of the cooperation between India and African countries at the opening of the 5-day African Development Bank’s Annual Meeting which began in Gandhinagar on 23 May 2017.

India’s partnership with Africa is based on a model of cooperation which is responsive to the needs of African countries. It is demand-driven and free of conditions, said Modi.

As one plank of this cooperation, India extends lines of credit through India’s Exim Bank. 152 credits have been extended to 44 countries for about US$8 billion.

During the Third India-Africa Forum Summit, India has offered US$10 billion for development projects over the next five years. “We also offered grant assistance of US$600 million,” he said.

Among India’s projects, Modi highlighted the Pan Africa e-network project for tele-medicine and tele-network covering 48 African countries.

“Five leading universities in India offered certificate, under graduate and post graduate programmes. Twelve super-speciality hospitals offered consultations and Continuous Medical Education. Around seven thousand students have concluded their studies. We will soon launch the next phase.

“We will soon successfully complete the Cotton Technical Assistance Programme for African Countries launched in 2012. The project was implemented in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda,” he said.

Africa-India trade has multiplied in the last 15 years. It has doubled in the last five years to reach nearly US$72 billion in 2014-15.

India’s private sector is at the forefront of driving this impetus. From 1996 to 2016, Africa accounted for nearly one-fifth of Indian overseas direct investments.

India is the fifth largest country investing in the continent, with investments over the past twenty years amounting to US$54 billion.

As a founder of the New Development Bank, popularly called the “BRICS bank”, India has consistently supported establishment of a Regional Centre in South Africa. This will provide a platform to promote collaboration between NDB and other development partners including the African Development Bank.

India joined the African Development Fund in 1982 and the African Development Bank in 1983. India has contributed to all of the Bank’s General Capital Increases.

For the most recent African Development Fund replenishment, India pledged US$29 million. “We have contributed to the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries and Multilateral Debt Reduction Initiatives,” he said. fii-news.com