WASHINGTON: In a statement Monday at the high-level plenary meeting of the U.N. General Assembly to consider how to support the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Sinha said a conference on India and NEPAD was held in New Delhi in July and addressed, among other issues, the question of improving the utilization of lines of credit extended by India to many countries in Africa. He said trade between India and sub-Saharan Africa had increased by almost 300 percent over the last nine years. "We are determined to maintain and improve this rate of growth. India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry has, therefore, launched a 'Focus Africa' program this year. We attach particular importance to the promotion of private sector linkages and have initiated training programs for private sector institutions." The minister said: "India's relationship with Africa is built on strong historical and political foundations. It has been our objective for the last four decades to also impart substantive economic content to this relationship. "Over the past decades, we have provided more than $2 billion in technical assistance to countries of South. More than 1,400 representatives of developing countries, the majority from Africa, are provided training every year under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Program." "Also, at any time, we are host to around 10,000 African students in our country. We are happy, through this program to be able to contribute to capacity-building in Africa," Sinha said.
Source: IANS