Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India would like to partner with Africa in strengthening economic relationship and addressing the challenges of climate change. During an interaction with the African journalists who have come for the India-Africa Forum Summit, Modi underlined that India-Africa relationship is beyond mere strategic considerations.
“We would want that in the days and months and years to come the economic relations between India and Africa should be further strengthened. Bilateral trade between India and Africa has been growing very rapidly and in the past few years it has grown by eight to nine times. I feel that after this summit it is going to see another major jump in future”, Modi said.
Following the two previous India-Africa Forum Summits, India has given 7.4 billion dollars of concessional credit to more than 40 African countries. The money has been used for over 100 projects in infrastructure, agriculture, industry, energy and water. Giving an outline of India's engagement with Africa, PM said, “India also is a major investor in Africa today and this is especially so in the oil sector and this is giving a new dynamism to the African economy.”
Modi highlighted that India has invested $1.2 billion in more than 100 institutes and this is contributing in a major way to human resource development. “The point which makes me the most happy is that there is this partnership between India and Africa that is human resource development, the capacity building. And in the last few years we have had the good fortune of imparting education and training to around 25,000 African students and I think this is a matter of good fortune for India. Today in Africa many of the leaders who are now in power and in top position have had their education and training in India,” he said.