Indian Prime Minister meets journalists

When 54 African Heads of State and Government or their representatives meet Mr Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, at the third India-Africa Summit on Thursday, the Heads of State will seek ways to narrow the trade gap between Africa and India.

Presently, trade between Africa and India favours the latter because it has a stronger economy, although the two have almost equal populations and similar circumstances because they both suffered from colonisation.

Meeting with journalists

Speaking to journalists ahead of the summit, Mr Narendra Modi said economic partnership between India and Africa was gathering momentum.

Responding to questions in written form before the interaction, the Prime Minister said, "India's trade with Africa, which was about $30 billion in 2007/2008, more than doubled to about $72 billion in the fiscal year 2014-15.”

He said besides economic growth in India and Africa, trade between the two had also benefitted from India's decision in 2008 to offer duty free access to Indian markets to all least-developed countries in the context of the first India-Africa Summit.

 “Thirty four African countries are direct beneficiaries of the scheme," Mr Modi added.

Balance of trade

Meanwhile, these figures do not impact on the balance of trade between African countries and India.

In the case of Ghana, for instance, in 2013/14 the balance of trade favoured India.

Ghana's imports from India amounted to $830.76 million, while India imported goods worth $370.59 million from Ghana.

India, major investor

Mr Modi was, nonetheless, optimistic that "India has emerged as a major investor from the developing world in Africa, surpassing even China".

"Our lines of credit to Africa, which are cumulatively $7.4 billion from the first two summits, are creating infrastructure in Africa and boosting bilateral trade. Similarly, Africa's vast resources and availability of arable land cannot only power Africa's prosperity but also become a major source of meeting India's rapidly growing demand," he said.

"India has focused development partnership on human resource development and the establishment of institutions in Africa which are, in turn, creating the skills and capabilities in Africa in areas such as agriculture, food processing, textiles, small industries, etc, to expand exports to India and other countries," he added.

He lauded Africa’s efforts at integrating markets on the continent, saying the efforts would stimulate bilateral trade and investment.

"As both India and Africa emerge as the new frontiers of opportunities in the 21st century, I am looking forward to the third India-Africa Summit to explore with African leaders how we can further expand our economic partnership and also work at shaping a more favourable global economic environment and institutional framework," Mr Modi said.