Thaindian News

By Shubha Singh
New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS) If you order a couple of fried eggs for breakfast in any restaurant in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, the eggs are almost certain to be from India. Almost 90 percent of pharmaceuticals sold in the West African country are also from India.According to India’s Honorary Consul General in Liberia Upjit Singh Sachdeva, “There are no poultry and dairy farms in Liberia, and all the eggs are imported from India while chicken and meat are imported from South America and other countries.”
In fact, trade is just one of the ways in which the once war-torn country is trying to rebuild its economy. There are over 150 Indian companies operating in Liberia, ranging from small trading firms to manufacturing companies. Steel conglomerate ArcelorMittal has a major iron ore mine in Liberia.

“India-Liberia bilateral relations are at their peak,” Sachdeva told IANS in an interview during a visit to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the annual convention of the Indian diaspora.

There has been an exchange of visits by political leaders in the past couple of years. Trade relations have increased with a widening trade basket.

Indian exports to Liberia include engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, two wheelers, transportation equipments, steel and plastic products. Liberian exports are gold, diamonds, timber and metal scrap. Indian investments have increased from $450 million in 2005 to more than $2 billion in 2009.

India is now one of the significant trade partners of Liberia, says Sachdeva, who was this month awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by President Pratibha Patil for his tireless work in improving relations with Liberia.

Brought up in Jalandhar, Punjab, Sachdeva has lived in Liberia for the past 24 years, ever since he joined his cousin’s timber business. A few years later, Sachdeva set out on his own and is now one of the prominent Indian businessmen in Liberia.

He has worked to promote connections between India and Liberia and in 1996, the Indian government appointed him to look after Indian interests in Liberia as its consul general.

“Liberian students have started taking admission in colleges in Delhi University as well as other institutes. There are even a few students pursuing a journalism programme. Liberians have begun to travel to India for medical tourism…they find it is much cheaper to get surgical procedures performed in India than in South Africa.

“Regular air connections have made it easier to travel to India. Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines have connecting flights from Monrovia to Nairobi to Mumbai or Monrovia, Addis Ababa to Delhi and Mumbai,” Sachdeva explained.

Political exchanges have put bilateral relations on a fast track.

Then minister of State for external affairs Shashi Tharoor visited Monrovia in 2008. It was the first visit by an Indian foreign minister since Sardar Swaran Singh visited the country 38 years ago. It was followed by a visit by then Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vyalar Ravi in February 2009.

From the Liberian side, Minister of Mines and Energy Eugene Shannon visited India with a high-level delegation to participate in the Confederation of Indian Industry-Africa Conclave.

An agreement for implementation of an E-network project for tele-education and tele-medicine has been signed and also two ‘Hole-in-the-Wall’ computer projects for making children computer-literate.

There is a small Indian community in Liberia. It numbered 10,000 at its peak in the early 1990s. Some Indians left during the civil war, but there were others who remained in Monrovia.

There are now 3,000 Indians living and working in Liberia.

“Indians have a good image in Liberia, they are not just involved in business but they participate in all social activities,” Sachdeva says.

“During the war, we had made shelter places at three locations in Monrovia - at the Indian community school and at the site of the proposed Mahatma Gandhi memorial hospital. We also set up a medical centre at the Indian school.”

Sachdeva’s own business enterprise has built two schools in the country as part of its corporate social responsibility programme. He has also donated an ambulance and built the moot court for the Law School of Liberia. Sachdeva was the first Indian to be appointed to the board of trustees of the University of Liberia.

With the good image Indians have in Liberia, Sachdeva believes that there are tremendous opportunities for Indian investment as “Liberia is exceedingly investor-friendly.”

(Shubha Singh can be contacted at shubhasingh101@gmail.com)