9th annual India-Africa project partnership meeting opens

Newly introduced projects set to enhance Ethiopia-India Cooperation

The 9th annual CII-EXIM Bank conclave India-Africa project partnership meeting opened late Sunday (March 17) in New Delhi, India, with the theme: "creating possibilities, delivering value". Organized jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Indian EXIM Bank, the conference has brought together 900 delegates from over 45 African countries, making this edition of the meeting the largest in its history. A 30-strong Ethiopian delegation led by the State Minister for Industry, Ato Tadesse Haile, and including the Director of Ethiopia Investment Agency, Ato Aklilu Woldemariam, Director for the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association, W/ro Mulu Solomon, senior officials and representatives of the Ethiopian private businesses is attending the three-day conference.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, CII Director General, Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, emphasized the significance of the event in consolidating the burgeoning economic and social cooperation between India and Africa. CII President, Mr. B Muthurman, on his part, said "the India-Africa project partnership meeting has helped to turn global south-south cooperation into a reality and has in the process visibly altered global economic flows". He hoped that the meeting would help identify mutually beneficial areas in which India-African cooperation could yield real economic growth and alignment. He explained that the commitment and leadership exhibited by developing economies of the south had created a climate conducive to the enjoyment of a wide range of benefits including improved innovation, technology transfer, human resource development, environmental protection and resource management. He went on to add that this progress has helped developing countries to follow a common path towards economic growth and prosperity. Mr. B Muthurman also noted that agricultural investments aimed at supplementing the production capacity of both large-scale projects and smallholder farmers are emerging as the biggest investment attractions on the African continent. He concluded by expressing his hope that the conference would help to develop a strategy by which to enlarge the existing 'south-south basket of cooperation' while examining how to expand mutually acceptable win-win solutions to the common challenges faced by emerging economies.

India’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma, began by detailing that global south-south cooperation, including India-Africa cooperation, is the result of the two regions shared experiences and joint struggles against a colonial past in search of a better future. He emphasized that the conference acts as an important platform by which the two regions jointly identify opportunities to cooperate and develop solutions to common challenges. He underlined the significant cooperation that currently exists between India and Africa in the areas of investment, trade and development assistance in the form of loans and/or grants. He also expressed his government’s readiness to actively encourage the significant presence of Indian businesses on the African continent. The session noted that Indian businesses have a growing interest in broadening their presence in Africa, most notably in the form of agriculture investments and agro-processing, textiles, manufacturing, oil and gas exploration, mining, health, drug and pharmaceutical supplies, consultancy and hospitality.

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