India to establish 80 new institutions across Africa

May 25th, 2011 - 6:21 pm ICT by IANS  

Manmohan Singh Addis Ababa, May 25 (IANS) India will establish over 80 new institutions in Africa in areas as diverse as agriculture to English language teaching in its support for institutional capacity building in Africa, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Wednesday.

India’s total commitment to Africa would be to the tune of $5.7 billion in grants and lines of credit, the prime minister said at the conclusion of the two-day 2nd Africa-India Summit at the African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.

“In consultation with African Union we will establish over 80 new institutions at the Pan-African, regional and bilateral levels in sectors such as agriculture, rural development, food processing, soil, water testing laboratories, integrated textile cluster, weather forecasting, life and earth sciences, information technology, vocational training, English languages centres, entrepreneurial development institutes.

“The consolidation of our financial assistance consisting of grants and lines of credit into a cohesive plan has begun to show results in projects of interest to Africa,” he said.

“Our total commitment ove the next three years is expected to be $5.7 billion to help Africa achieve its development goals,” he added.

In addition, India will offer 22,000 scholarships and training slots to African students under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, he declared.

Flanked by the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodore Obiang Nguema Mbasago, and chairperson of African Union Commission, Jean Ping, Manmohan Singh said annual trade between India and Africa was about $46 billion and growing. Measures to open the Indian market to African exports, including under the duty-free tariff preference schemes, were bearing fruit, he added.

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