India on Friday urged African nations to encourage Indian industry to grow its footprint in the continent. Speaking at the CII-EXIM Bank conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership 2008, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said Indian companies were making robust investments in Africa in sectors ranging from horticulture and agriculture to power generation and mining.
Stating that Africa is generating enormous demand for appropriate infrastructure technologies, products, engineering services and capacity building, especially for setting up manufacturing capabilities for local value addition as well as for employment generation, the minister said that India is committed to share its knowledge and expertise with the African countries in these areas. He added that India has made strides in manufacturing and technology by pursuing a model of development that is appropriate, affordable and relevant in the African context.
?We are committed to continue our support in areas of our strength, including human resource development and capacity building programmes,? he said, adding that projects such as the Pan African e-Network are an illustration of India?s efforts at sharing its progress in the knowledge sector and helping bridge the digital divide in Africa.
Focusing attention on the many bilateral and regional lines of credit (LOCs) on concessional terms that India has extended to Africa, Mukherjee said, ?Our focus will be on fostering sustainable socio-economic development in our partner countries.?
He said that India?s engagement with African countries in the past was focused on bilateral engagement. However, the country is now taking initiatives for establishing relationships with the regional economic communities. ?We have made progress with COMESA, SADC, ECOWAS and EAC and hope to make progress with ECCAS, IGAD and others,? he said.
He underlined the need for greater co-operation with Africa to fight international terrorism, facilitate the conclusion of the Doha Round, and further democratisation of the United Nations including the UN Security Council. ?Climate change is another subject which figures increasingly in our discussions. Our commitment to solutions based on common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities remains steadfast,? he said. Commerce secretary GK Pillai said that India will take positive steps to open its markets for African goods and services, as well as participate in capacity building and skills development in Africa.