Africa top priority, will always stand shoulder-to-shoulder: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that Africa was a top priority for his government’s foreign and economic policy and India will always stand shoulde-to-shoulder with countries of the continent in the long and difficult race for a better future.
Inaugurating the 52nd Annual Meetings of the African Development bank (AfDB) at Mahatma Mandir here, Modi said India’s partnership with Africa was free of any conditions and will remain demand-driven.
Modi said India and Africa face similar development challenges and the mutual ties had become stronger over decades.
The five-day annual meeting of AfDB, being held in India for the first time, is being attended by 54 African regional members and 27 non-regional member countries of the organisation.
“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,” he said.
In the sports arena, India cannot compete with Africa in long distance running. But I can assure you that India will always stand with you, shoulder to shoulder, supporting you in the long and difficult race for a better future,” he said.
Modi said India offered $10 billion for development projects over the next five years during the India-Africa Summit held in 2015 in New Delhi. Terming 2015 as a “watershed”, he said India had also offered grant assistance of $600 million to the African countries. He said India has extended 152 lines of credit to 44 countries of nearly $8 billion.
Trade between Africa and India has doubled in the last five years to reach nearly $72 billion in 2014-15. India’s commodity trade with Africa in 2015-16 was higher than with the US.
Modi said India’s private sector was also driving partnership with Africa. He referred to “solar mamas”, under which training is imparted to African women to work on solar panels and circuits. “It is one of our best partnerships in the area of skills.”