Declaring open the India-Africa Forum Summit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that credit assistance to Africa would be more than double for five years as of the next fiscal year.

India planned to enhance the Foreign Office’s Aid to Africa budget to execute human skills improvement projects. Over the next 5-6 years, it proposed to undertake projects against grants in excess of over 500 million USD.

Dr. Singh said India would double the number of long-term scholarships for African students and effect a 50 per cent increase in technical assistance training slots. He also proposed the setting up of an India-Africa Volunteer Corps to undertake development works in public health, informal education and women’s empowerment.

The summit, being attended by six Presidents and senior Ministers from the continent, is India’s most ambitious venture in the post-Cold War era to forge closer trade, economic and political ties with the continent.

Dr. Singh said the preferential market access scheme would cover 94 per cent of India’s total tariff lines and 92.5 per cent of the global exports of all LDCs.

Noting that in the last five years, India extended a line of credit (LoC) worth 2.15 billion USD , he said, “Over the next five years, we will more than double this amount and offer an additional LoC amounting to 5.4 billion USD , both bilaterally and to the regional economic communities of Africa.”

The summit unanimously accepted the drafts of the Delhi Declaration and the India-Africa Framework for Cooperation. The two texts intend to consolidate the discussions held over the past few days to redefine and re-energize the old partnership and civilisational links.

Dr. Singh said the lines of credit and other initiatives were aimed at improving Africa’s railways and information technology, telecom and power sectors, besides strengthening physical connectivity.

India was keen on utilizing Africa’s energy resources but it visualized a partnership “anchored in the fundamental principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit … the objective is to cooperate with Africa in its efforts to achieve economic vibrancy, peace, stability and self-reliance.”

Dr. Singh hoped the Delhi Declaration and the India-Africa Framework for Cooperation would provide the blueprint for engagement in the coming years.

R: 2:20-2:50 PM

E: 2:46-2:59

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