New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS): India is Africa's fourth largest trading partner, with 85 billion dollars in bilateral trade and 75 billion dollars in investments, and the 19th CII India-Africa Business Conclave on India-Africa growth partnership offers opportunities to fully exploit the potential in varied areas, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Wednesday.
According to him, India and Africa's growth partnership will serve as a catalyst for accelerated global rebalancing and the strengthening of the Global South, which augurs well for global peace and harmony.
Addressing the event, VP Dhankhar said India has invested over 12.37 billion dollars in 206 infrastructure projects across 43 African countries, impacting millions of lives.
The country also provides capacity-building, training, and educational opportunities, reflecting its commitment to the African Union's priorities like the African Union's focus for this year ‘Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century’.
“India, the largest democracy on the planet, most vibrant and home to one-sixth of humanity, has nurtured its bonds with Africa in people-to-people relations with the extension of e-Visa facilities to 33 African countries,” the Vice President told the gathering.
According to VP Dhankhar, the deep-rooted ties between India and Africa, forged by shared histories, common struggles, and mutual aspirations for a just and progressive future, and equitable world order make this partnership natural and stronger than ever.
The country has leveraged digital technology to revolutionise public services. It has been of the highest order the technological world has so far seen, collaborating this expertise with Africa on initiatives like "India Stack".
“India's space programme offers Africa tech-based solutions to advance towards achieving sustainable development. This is an area that offers enormous avenues and the country in this direction is now one of global leaders,” said the Vice President.
The country now looks forward to organising the ‘India-Africa Forum Summit IV’ to provide a more contemporary agenda for cooperation between the two sides.
“India is an economy on the upsurge, an economy on the rise. The rise has been exponential and historic in the last decade, recognised globally has much to offer to the world and in particular Africa, and I am sure the deliberations here will surely have much to take away and get realised on the ground soon,” the Vice President added.