India-Africa $90 bn trade target by 2015 achievable: Anand Sharma

The recently revised India-Africa bilateral trade target of $90 billion by 2015 is modest and achievable, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said here Tuesday.

He was addressing the third meeting of India-Africa Trade Ministers in Johannesburg, which he co-chaired with South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies, a commerce ministry release here said.

The meeting was attended by Chairperson of African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and 11 trade ministers from Africa, representatives of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), and regional economic communities like Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and Southern African Development Community (SADC), the statement added.

Sharma said that the economic engagement has been a buoyant one as investments from India to Africa has crossed $50 billion in the last decade, while current trade has crossed $70 billion.

Earlier, Sharma in a bilateral meeting with Davies urged for an early conclusion of the India- Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Preferential Trade Agreement negotiations, the statement said.

India's trade with South Africa has touched $14 billion and investment flows from India have crossed $7 billion.

The statement also said that the second meeting of the India-Africa Business Council was held in Johannesburg Tuesday, where business leaders collectively identified priority sectors of private investment and presented a report to the trade ministers.