Africa-India Partnership Day being held in Rwanda

In an effort to further boost India-Africa business collaborations, an "Africa-India Partnership Day" is being organised Thursday on the sidelines of the African Development Bank's annual general meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, May 19-23.

The second such event, being organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Exim Bank, has as its theme "Sharing India's Experiences with Africa", FICCI said here Thursday.

It would serve as a platform for sharing India's experiences, knowledge, ideas, policy options and information on project identification, conception, development and financing for infrastructure development in Africa, FICCI added.

"The objective is to ultimately establish the Africa-India Partnership Day as an integral part of the events associated with the annual meetings of African Development Bank," FICCI said.

The Exim Bank is planning to set up a project development company with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to encourage public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Africa. The proposed company will be targeted at bankable projects in Africa, Exim Bank chairman and managing director Yaduvendra Mathur had told IANS here during the recent 10th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India Africa Project Partnership.

India's investments in Africa since 2005 total $50 billion and lines of credit to African countries total $8 billion.

Several multinational giants like Tata, Reliance, Bharti Airtel and Ashok Leyland have significant presence in Africa.

Bilateral trade between India and Africa has shot up from $25 billion in 2006-07 to around $70 billion in 2012-13. The Indian government has targeted it to touch $200 billion by 2020.

According to FICCI, the Africa-India Partnership Day "will serve to help in synergizing the priority areas for engagement between the African Development Bank, Government of India and Exim Bank of India."