Ghana and other 41 African countries have benefited from India’s developmental projects to the tune of USD 12 billion over the years.
In all, the investments have led to 336 projects with 208 projects already completed and 85 projects currently under execution with the remaining projects in various preparatory stages.
Mr Periasamy Kumaran, Special Secretary, Economic Relations & Development Partnership Administration (ER & DPA), Ministry of External Affairs, India, said this during an engagement with journalists from selected West and Central African countries on the Familiarisation Tour of India.
The tour is to create an opportunity for journalists from Africa to understand and appreciate India’s diverse culture, development partners and multilateral ties, education and arts, technology and telecommunication sectors.
The Special Secretary said India’s foreign policy towards Africa was based on four pillars, which include development partnership and capacity building, trade and investment, strong people-to-people ties, and defence and maritime security.
He said some of the iconic assets built in Africa include the Parliamentary building in The Gambia, the Presidential Palace in Ghana, the Kosti Power project in Sudan which provides a third of the country’s power and the Upper Ruvu Water Treatment Plant in Tanzania.
The rest are several industrial units including the first cement plant in Djibouti, the first milk processing plant in Mauritania, and the first sugar factory in Ghana.
The Government of Ghana, in 2017, secured a $24.5 million Indian EXIM credit facility for the cultivation of sugarcane in the Central and Western regions as part of efforts to develop and implement a plantation and Out-Grower Scheme
“India and Africa share a multifaceted economic relationship, with India being the fourth largest trading partner and the fifth largest investor for Africa. Our trade with Africa is touching US$ 100 billion and our cumulative investments in Africa are over US$ 75 billion,” Mr Kumaran said.
India’s project portfolio encompasses roads and bridges, railways, ports, inland waterways, power stations and transmission lines, IT and telecommunication infrastructure, and upgrading border-related infrastructure to enable a smoother flow of goods and passengers.
It has also undertaken several projects in healthcare, education, capacity-building, agriculture and digital public infrastructure.
The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme, established in 1964, continues to be among the oldest and largest mechanisms for international capacity-building.
India, since then has provided training in a number of fields to over 240,000 officials from over 160 countries and through more than 2500 courses offered at more than 120 world-class institutions in the civilian and defence sectors.
Cumulatively, nearly 37,000 civilian training slots under the ITEC programme have been utilized by African government officials and civil servants in the past 2 decades.
“As stated by the Prime Minister of India in his address at the Parliament of Uganda in July 2018, “Our development partnership will be guided by your priorities. It will be on terms that will be comfortable for you, that will liberate your potential and not constrain your future,” Mr Kumaran said.
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