African Heads of Missions in New Delhi and Ministry of External Affairs jointly celebrated Africa Day on 27 May 2022 in New Delhi.
“Africa Day is the annual commemoration of the foundation of the ‘Organisation of African Unity’ in 1963 and provides an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate diverse heritage and economic potential of African continent, the Indian embassy in Cairo said in a statement.
India’s traditional and historic partnership with Africa has further strengthened through intensifying political engagements and expansion of India’s diplomatic footprints by opening of 18 new diplomatic missions in Africa.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘10 Guiding Principles’ of India’s engagement with Africa have been serving as an instrument in India’s multi- dimensional relationship with Africa in the changing world, the statement added, indicating that India’s concessional loans, grants and capacity building programmes have played significant role in Africa’s socio-economic development.
According to the statement, so far, Lines of Credits (LoCs) worth US$ 12.26 billion have been extended to African countries. Under these LoCs, 193 projects have been completed and 66 projects are currently under execution and 88 in pre-execution stage in various sectors such as drinking water, agriculture mechanization and irrigation, solar electrification, power plants, textiles, technology parks and railway infrastructure etc. More than 32,000 African youth have utilized scholarships offered under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and other scholarship programmes. India has established seven IT Centers in Egypt, Ghana, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania to promote digital literacy among African youth.
On trade and economic front, India is the fourth largest partner for Africa registering US$ 69.7 billon trade during 2018-19, and is the fifth largest investor in Africa with cumulative investments at US$ 70.7 billion in sectors like oil & gas, mining, banking, pharma, textiles, automotive, agriculture, etc.
During COVID pandemic, Government of India has gifted 150 tonnes of medical aid to more than 25 African countries. Under the Government of India’s “Vaccine Maitri” initiative, India has supplied 37.59 million doses (1.05 million doses under grant, 10.2 million dose under commercial and 26.38 under GAVI’s COVAX initiative) to 42 African countries.
The event was attended by a large number of African Heads of Missions, members of diplomatic corps in New Delhi, think tanks and senior officials in the Government of India. In his keynote addressed delivered on the occasion, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs highlighted multifaceted relations with African countries.
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