India extends $10mn fresh line of credit to Africa
Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: The Exim Bank of India has agreed to extend a fresh line of credit of $10 million to the PTA Bank in Africa, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said here Monday. This is in addition to the 37 lines of credit (LoC) amounting to $1.37 billion already extended by the Exim Bank to various African countries, covering areas such as agriculture, transportation, steel and cement industry, said Sharma during the signing of an agreement at a Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The Exim Bank had earlier this year signed a $250 million LoC with the ECOWAS Bank for investment and development purposes. "These lines of credit will have a multiplier effect as the technical and professional capabilities of Indian business as also its global competitiveness will become familiar to Africa," the minister said. Sharma said India has taken up the Pan-African e-network project for establishing e-connectivity in all 53 countries of the African Union. "The focus will be on tele-medicine and tele-education facilities from specialised institutes in India to remote learning and medical centres in each African nation," he said.
Source: IANS
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