PM Modi at the inauguration of annual meeting of African Development Bank spoke in detail about the ever increasing relations between India and Africa.
How are the ties improving?
Africa-India trade has multiplied in the last 15 years.
It 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 our commodity trade with the United States of America.
India’s private sector is also 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 20 years amounting to $54 billion, creating jobs for Africans.
African countries are also the partners of International Solar Alliance initiative, which was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.
The alliance is conceived as a coalition of countries rich in solar resources to address their special energy needs.
As a founder of the New Development Bank (NDB), 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 $29 million with contribution to the highly indebted poor countries and multilateral debt reduction initiatives.
What are the similarities between both India and Africa?
Both nations require uplifting our farmers and the poor, empowering women, ensuring rural communities have access to finance, building infrastructure.
There is a necessity to maintain macroeconomic stability so that inflation is controlled and balance of payments is stable.
