India inks MoU to set up agriculture, rural development institute in Malawi

India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Consultancy Service (NABCONS) for setting up the India-Africa Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development (IAIARD) in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa.

Ministry of External Affairs signed on Tuesday with NABCONS for setting up IAIARD, an attempt to complement the efforts of the Government of India to enhance capacity in the areas of agro-financing and entrepreneurship development for African countries.

"IAIARD will be a pan-African institute wherein trainees not only from Malawi but also from other African countries, will receive training to develop their human resources and build their capacity," said an official statement.

"IAIARD will develop training programmes in the areas of micro-financing and agro-financing, among others," the statement further said.

Indian government will bear the entire expenditure on faculty from India, the travel, logistics and training course expenses for students from other African countries for an initial period of three years.

"This institute will be the first of its kind developed in an African country by India. This will further strengthen bilateral relations with Malawi and India's relations with the African Union," said the statement.