25 Oct 2015

Twenty three African journalists are here on a familiarization tour and to attend the India-Africa summit 111 which starts today (October 26) until Thursday October 29, courtesy of the Indian government.

The seven day tour will include meetings with officials of relevant ministries, chambers of commerce, business and media houses.

The journalists have had an opportunity to interact with the India Prime Minister  Mr Narendrea Modi who said India and Africa were now the bright spots of hope for the global economy, noting that India was  the fastest growing major economy and Africa was experiencing a rapid growth too.

He said while India and Africa would both do much on their own to advance prosperity and peace for their people, the partnership between the two could be a source of great strength for each other, both to reinforce and accelerate each other’s economic development.

Mr Modi said the partnership with Africa was driven by the aim of empowerment, capacity building, human resources development, access to Indian market and support for Indian investments in Africa.

“India is privileged to be a development partner for Africa … African countries now enjoy duty free access to the Indian market of 1.25 billion in concessional lines of credit, which is contributing towards development of infrastructure, light manufacturing, public services and clean energy in Africa,” he said.

Mr Modi said India has committed grant assistance of USD 1.2 billion that was helping finance human resource development and establishment of over 100 capacity building institutions in Africa.

He said in the past three years alone, 25 000 Africans have been trained or educated in India, noting that the pan African e-network, which now connects 48 African countries was becoming the new highway of regional  connectivity and human development.

“Africa’s development is huge opportunity for India, just as Africa’s resources, including oil, power India’s economic growth and create wealth and jobs in Africa,’ he said.   

The Prime Minister also announced that the aim of the summit was to promote solar power to mitigate issues of climate change.

He said the fact that more than 400 journalists would be covering the summit shows the importance attached to the vent.

As for Botswana, according to sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Botswana, when the third President Mr Festus Mogae visited India in 2006 a number of areas were  identified for enhancing bilateral cooperation between the two countries. A line of credit of US $20 million and grant-in-aid of Rs (Ruppee) 50 million each for health and education sectors were also announced.

When the Vice President of India visited Botswana in 2010 agreements on the educational exchange programme and cooperation in the field of agriculture were signed.  ENDS