Monday, 23 March, 2009

Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers and dignitaries from Africa, Ambassadors & High Commissioners,

Mr. Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.,

Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of Confederation of Indian Industry,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great privilege to be present amidst you today at this special plenary session of the 5th CIl-EXIM Bank Conclave on the lndia-Africa Project Partnership 2009. This event has become a most prestigious gathering of government and business representatives from Africa and India. It is a reflection of our common desire to share each other’s capabilities and capacities for mutual benefit and for the socio-economic development of our peoples.


I have been informed that this year’s Conclave has generated overwhelming response with more than 450 participants registering from Africa and nearly 315 from India. I congratulate the Confederation of Indian Industry and EXIM Bank for this.


Such periodical gatherings not only give us an occasion to renew our acquaintance, but also enable us to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of our mutual commitments and to address our future needs.

Friends, the theme of this year’s Conclave is “India-Africa: Celebrating the Partnership”. The India-Africa partnership has evolved over decades with mutual respect for each other’s traditions, cultures and the desire to ensure that the benefits of development are spread evenly and reach all our peoples, particularly the most disadvantaged.

The long and historic relationship between India and Africa has now evolved into a sustainable partnership. During our march together, we have traversed similar paths, shared similar values and cherished the same dreams.

Today, both India and Africa have emerged as strong and dependable partners, who are well positioned to confront the growing challenges facing humanity, be it combating the scourge of international terrorism, eradicating hunger and poverty, tackling global warming, or evolving new frameworks for international institutions.

Our time-tested and multifaceted relationship with Africa is based on the solid foundation of our steadfast commitment for the rapid growth and progress of Africa. The formalisation of an institutional mechanism for the India-Africa dialogue in the form of the India-Africa Forum Summit is a reflection of India’s commitment to work with the continent to fulfil its aspirations.

International trade and market access are crucially important for development. Recognising this, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh unilaterally announced India’s Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme (DFTP) in April last year in New Delhi for 49 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of which 33 are from the African continent including the Cotton-4 countries, i.e. Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad and Mali. This Scheme covers 94% of India’s total tariff lines. I would urge all LDCs in Africa to fully utilize this scheme. We are happy to provide them greater market access to India.

Since the inception of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme in 1964, capacity building and human resource development in Africa has been an area of high priority for the Government of India. The ITEC programme has benefited thousands of experts and students from Africa who came for training courses in professional institutions in India. These courses cover diverse fields such as agriculture and agro processing, entrepreneurship development, tool design, small business creation, promotion of rural industries and information technology. Our “Barefoot College” and the “Hole-in-the-Wall” programmes have received enthusiastic response from several countries. This year the Ministry of External Affairs has designed special courses for experts from Africa in the field of mining and new and renewable energy resources. We have increased the number of training slots for African countries from 1100 to 1600. I would like to urge all my friends from Africa to fully utilize these training courses.

I am happy to note that several thousand African students are currently studying in Indian universities and colleges. We have doubled the number of scholarships for the African countries to 500 this year.

Over the next five to six years India will also undertake in Africa, on a grant basis, projects in critical areas such as higher and vocational education, science, IT, agriculture and renewable energy. A sum of US$500 million has been allocated for this.

Government of India’s Pan-African e-Network Project is another shining example of the India-Africa partnership. Under this project, India has provided a dedicated satellite link for e-connectivity to help bridge the digital divide in Africa. The project aims at linking major universities in different regions of Africa with major Indian universities and centres of excellence on the one hand, as also major hospitals in Africa with super-specialty hospitals in India, on the other. I had the privilege of inaugurating the first phase of this project last month which covers eleven countries. We hope to extend this to another 22 countries by the middle of this year. I am confident that this project would be immensely useful to our friends in their effort to disseminate higher education and modern medicine.

It is a matter of satisfaction to note that our bilateral trade with Africa has grown manifold and reached a level of US$36 billion in 2007-08, up from US$3 billion in 2000-01. Given the concrete opportunities that exist between the two sides, India-Africa trade could easily be doubled to US$70 billion over the next five years. I would urge this Conclave to accept this challenge and plan out strategies to achieve it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is important to supplement governmental efforts with those from industry, civil society and private institutions in order to widen and deepen the foundation of our growing partnership. I am confident that such empowered gatherings comprising of entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders would provide the necessary impetus to promote B2B interactions and public-private partnerships between the two sides.

I acknowledge, in this context, the pioneering role played by India’s public and private sector in promoting joint ventures and investments in Africa in core sectors, particularly in the fields of agriculture, power generation, irrigation, pharmaceuticals, IT and health.

Of late, there have been further investments or plans for investment by both Indian public and private sector companies in the energy sector. These plans entail capacity development and value addition in a broader sense and are, therefore mutually beneficial and sustainable.

Ladies & Gentlemen, India is the world’s largest importer of rough diamonds and exporter of cut and polished diamonds. Most of the raw diamonds for our cutting and polishing industry are sourced from Africa. As part of our philosophy of sharing our knowledge with others, and in pursuance of our policy to increase capacity building in Africa, our government has favourably considered the request of some African countries to set up Diamond Cutting and Polishing Institutes for training of their personnel in cutting/polishing skills.

The endeavours of the African Union towards regional economic integration and for building Pan-African institutions are truly commendable. We will continue our support for these efforts as well as those to meet the Millennium Development Goals, especially in the areas of human resource development and capacity building. We have an open mind on looking at new and innovative ideas and sectors in this regard. I would urge delegates here to give thought to this aspect.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying that the current global financial crisis and general economic downturn have impacted us all. However, it is our firm intention to continue to fulfil the commitments we announced towards Africa at the India-Africa Forum Summit last April.

Excellencies, in the post-colonial era, India and African countries have been together since their birth as independent nations. Our destinies and future remain closely intertwined. That is my message to you.

Thank you.