India and African countries on Saturday called for reforming the global economic and financial architecture so that recurrence of crisis like the financial meltdown of September 2008 can be prevented.
Trade ministers from India and African countries met here to finalise agenda for the second India-Africa Forum Summit on May 24-25. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to attend the meeting. The first India-African Forum Summit was held in Delhi in April 2008.
?We agree on the need for a reform of the global economic and financial system to avoid a recurrence of the recent crisis,? a joint statement issued at the end of the trade ministers? meet said.
The statement added: ?We emphasise the development dimension of Doha Round of negotiations and call for speedy conclusion of the round and the establishment of a strong multilateral system based on mutually beneficial and balanced outcomes in agriculture, Nama, services and rules.?
In a bid to scale up coordination on key issues relating to multilateral trade forums, the two sides also agreed that trade ministers from India and African countries would meet annually.
The two sides also sounded optimistic about the growth prospects of bilateral trade and investment. Bilateral trade between India and Africa has gone up from $3 billion in 2001-01 to $46 billion in the past financial year, which they have targeted to further increase to $70 billion by 2014-15.
The two sides also expressed satisfaction at the flow of bilateral investments, which hit $ 90 billion in 2010. Investment of over $50 billion has also been committed by public and private sector Indian companies in Africa, of which about $40 billion has already materialised.
Africa is potentially a big market for India, considering the continent has been growing in the recent years at a fast pace.
CII has mounted a high-level delegation, comprising, among others, Sunil Bharti Mittal of the Bharti Group and Adi Godrej of the Godrej Group. Mittal had few years ago completed a major telecom acquisition in the continent.