Indian business community keen to partner Africa

Accra, May 26, GNA - The Indian business community is desirous to partner with its African counterparts on a broad spectrum of ventures to develop priority areas of their economies, Indian External Affairs Minister Mr Anand Sharma said on Thursday.

Addressing the opening session of a two-day India Africa mini conclave in Accra, Mr Sharma his country had watched with admiration the steady progress that Africa was making on the path of democracy, good governance and sustained, equitable economic growth and was thus serious to network.

"We are here to listen to you, understand your development priorities and challenges and to work together in creating a win-win partnership", Mr Sharma said.

There were more than 100 participants attending the meeting from Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Congo, Comoros, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guine a, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Niger.

Mr Sharma commended the African Union (AU) for its strides to end several debilitating conflicts and also the efforts by the New Partnership for Africa's Development to create institutions like the African Peer Review Mechanism and the willingness of countries like Ghana to subject themselves to scrutiny.

He said India stood shoulder to shoulder with Africa during its darkest days of colonialism and apartheid and now looked forward to an equally close partnership in Africa's renaissance.

Mr Sharma noted that "the Indian story" had caught up with the world because it was a country of 1.1 billion people, living in raucous pluralistic democracy and managing a steady GDP growth of almost eight per cent with plans to raise it to 10 per cent.

He said India was growing because she relied primarily on the hard work and enterprise of her indigenous companies and its domestic markets, rather than on international aid or foreign direct investment alone or on exports.

Mr Sharma said India's technologies were adaptable, appropriate and affordable and that the lines of credit the country was providing were merely instruments to enable countries in the region to meet some of their development priorities through concessional finance and also encourage African countries to participate more actively in mutual beneficial projects.

"It is important that our own businessmen see these lines of credit as catalysts to encourage them to venture forth without fear and not as clutches without which they cannot move forward," he added. The Indian Minister said the government of Ghana had created a stable and friendly business environment, which had attracted a host of Indian companies to establish in the country thus making Indian one of the largest overseas investors in Ghana.

This, he noted, had largely happened without government support or recourse to the line of credit.

"I would be delighted to see this example replicated in many other countries around the region even as we from the government do our best to remove obstacles and act as facilitators," he said. At a press briefing, Mr Sharma said India had taken steps to strengthen its economy to make her institutions competitive and build the capacity of her people to enhance their capability to compete in business with other partners.

He said a number of projects had been undertaken to ensure the development of the rural communities.

Mr Rajesh Nandan Prasad, India High Commi ssioner to Ghana said Africa today was a beacon of hope, as the AU and NEPAD had made strenuous efforts to ensure peace, stability and socio-economic development. 26 May 06