AfDB moves to improve ties between India and Africa

31 Mar 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

During the four-day official visit to India, Adesina and members of his delegation will hold bilateral talks with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, along with Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.

Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank

President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, began a four-day official visit to India on Thursday to improve relations between the bank and the South Asian country, and strengthen ties between India and Africa.

According to a statement by AfDB, Adesina and members of his delegation will hold bilateral talks with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, along with Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. The discussions will focus on promoting greater cooperation between the bank and India. The visit comes ahead of the AfDB’s forthcoming Annual Meeting scheduled to take place in Ahmedabad,  the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat, on May 22-26.

During the visit, the AfDB team will attend an interactive session on the bank’s High 5 development priorities, which are  1) Light up and power Africa; 2) Feed Africa; 3) Integrate Africa; 4) Industrialise Africa; and 5) Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. The team will also meet with Managing Director of Export-Import Bank of India, David Rasquinha, and participate at the opening ceremony of the 2nd Annual Meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) for infrastructure development.

At the end of the visit, Adesina will hold a press conference along with the Chief Minister of Gujarat State, Vijay Rupani.

Afro-Indian trade reportedly grew at almost 32% per annum from 2005 to 2011, spurred by Indian private investments in ICT, energy, automobile manufacturing, and telecommunications. The value of bilateral trade between Africa and India more than doubled from $25 billion in 2007 to $70 billion in 2014 and was projected reach $90 billion in 2015.

However, the vast majority of exports from Africa to India are raw materials such as crude oil, gold, raw cotton, and precious stones.

Members of the AfDB delegation include the Executive Director for Finland, Norway and India, Karine Isaksson; Secretary-General, Vincent Nmehielle; Deputy Director General, East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office, Nnenna Nwabufo; Kapil Kapoor, Director of Strategy, among others.

India is a key member of the 24 non-regional member States of the AfDB Group. The country became a part of the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional arm of the AfDB in 1982, and the African Development Bank in the following year.


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