Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Apr 07, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Apr 07, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Industry & Economy
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Foreign Trade Indo-Africa meet likely to boost bilateral ties
G. Srinivasan New Delhi, April 6 As the country is hosting the first-ever India-Africa Forum Summit on April 8-9 in the Capital involving a substantial number of countries from the African continent, expectations run high that New Delhi might come out with a substantial supportive package to deepen and widen its presence in Africa. Highly-placed sources in the Government told Business Line that unlike any other country, India’s engagement in African economies had always been cost-effective and provided appropriate technologies with the country’s development assistance taking a multi-pronged approach. This includes creative use of lines of credit, creation of assets in Africa and the establishment of high-tech projects by India. Given India’s wide-ranging cooperation and fostering partnerships in areas encompassing human resources development, health, capacity-building, and information, communication and technology (ICT) utilisation — all of which were embedded in the Pan-African e-Network Project, the sources said India is optimistic about taking this experience to a new efficacious level. The sources said the Forum meeting is preceded by the Foreign Ministers’ meeting on April 7 and New Delhi has invited the Chairs of the regional economic communities and their Secretaries General and the founding members of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) initiatives, besides the incumbent and preceding Chairs of the African Union. It is also agreed that the formal outcome documents of the Forum would be a declaration and an action plan. The declaration would deal with broader areas of cooperation and “our common views on regional and global issues including the fight against terrorism, climate change and WTO negotiations”. Aid packageAs the host, India is likely to unveil a big supportive package to Africa besides larger lines of credit on flexible terms, including technical assistance, reflecting the historic ties between India and the countries of Africa and also to identify new areas of cooperation, the sources added. India is acutely aware that there is an untapped potential in the two-way trade which had grown from $5 billion in 2001-02 to nearly $25 billion in 2006-07. India has signed trade agreements with 29 of the 54 countries of Africa. India and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) have also resolved to set up a Joint Working Group to examine the possibility of signing a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). Negotiations are also under way for wrapping up a Preferential Trade Agreement with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The sources state that the India-Africa Forum Summit is a serious bid in hammering out a purposeful mechanism to institutionalise India’s growing engagement with Africa and the participating leaders from Africa would identify the areas of cooperation based on their developmental priorities. More Stories on : Foreign Trade
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