Economic Cooperation: Growing India’s Offensive In Africa

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Economic Cooperation: Growing India’s Offensive In Africa

14 juin 2022 20:08

India, one of the fastest growing world economies is engaging in a paradigm shift as far as economic cooperation is concerned. The just ended visit, the first of its kind of India’s senior official to Africa is telling of the recent twist in the country’s economic diplomacy. The visit of the Vice President of the Republic of India, Venkaiah Naidu to Gabon and Senegal during his recent three-nation tour marks an important milestone in the economic diplomatic history of the world’s second most populous nation. Naidu is accompanied by a high-level delegation of senior officials of the country in a visit that is expected to add momentum to India’s engagement with Africa and emphasise India’s commitment to the African continent. Addressing the business community at an event organised by the India-Gabon Business Forum, Naidu said: «India attaches utmost priority to its relationship with Africa.» He called for stepping up bilateral cooperation in green energy, services, health and agriculture among other sectors. The Vice President met President Ali Bongo Ondimba, and during the meeting he said, «India attaches great importance to its relations with Gabon and reiterated the commitment of the Government of India to be Gabon’s reliable partner in its development journey,» according to a tweet by the Vice President’s Office. The Indian Vice President also reiterated his country’s commitment to partner with Gabon and Senegal in driving growth in both countries and Africa at large. “Together we can harness our many complementariness and broad-base our economic cooperation for a better tomorrow,” he said in a tweet. In Dakar, Senegal, the Indian Vice President and President Macky Sall also held discussions on fostering the India-Africa partnership. Bilateral trade between Senegal and India has reached to new mark of US$ 1.65 billion during 2021-22. Both leaders emphasized the need to diversify the trade basket. They agreed to encourage more private investment from India in Senegal in certain important sectors such as agriculture, energy, health, railways, mining, housing, oil & gas etc. The two leaders also welcomed the development cooperatio...