India grant $5 billion in aid and promise to build new institutions in Africa
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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
May 24, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
addressing the opening session of the 2nd Africa-India Forum Summit in
the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Tuesday announced a record $5
billion grant to Africa in a bid to help the continent achieve its
development goals.
JPEG - 7.1 kb
African Union Head Jean Ping with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
"We will offer 5 billion dollars for the next three years under lines
of credit to help Africa achieve its development goals," Singh said in
his address to heads of states and representatives of 15 African
countries.
On top of the loan grants, India has also offered an additional $700
million to establish new institutions and training programs in Africa
and $300 million support for the new Ethiopia-Djibouti railway line
project.
“Under the lines of credit that we offered at the first Summit, we had
specifically looked at promoting regional integration through
infrastructure development,” the Indian premier said.
“On the advice of the African Union, I am happy to announce that we
would support the development of a new Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway line
to the tune of 300 million USD for this important regional project”.
The Prime Minister proposed the establishment of an India-Africa Food
Processing Cluster, Integrated Textiles Cluster, Centre for Medium
Range Weather Forecasting Cluster and an India-Africa Institute of
Agriculture and Rural Development.
He also proposed the creation of an India-Africa Virtual University,
which will provide 10,000 new scholarships for African students after
its establishment.
“This, we hope, will help to meet some of the demand in Africa for
higher studies in Indian Institutions,” Singh said adding that the
current 500 African scholarships per year would be increased to 900,
taking the total commitment for the next three years to more than
22,000.
In his address, Prime Minister Singh also announced India’s commitment
of two million USD for the African Union Mission in Somalia to support
the efforts of maintaining peace and security in Africa.
This is the first time the summit has been held in Africa. The first
Summit was held in 2008 in India.
Describing the Summit as a historic gathering of leaders, Singh said
the presence of leaders on such a scale on African soil showed that
the two sides were on the right path in building an enduring
partnership describing it as "a partnership that is unique, special
and between two equals".
(ST)
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