India extends 222 LoCs worth $14.07 bn in Africa, 37 LoCs to neighbours

India continues to engage with its neighbour nations as well as Africa through development assistance as New Delhi has extended 222 lines of credit (LoCs) worth $14.07 billion covering as many as 357 projects in 42 African nations, The Times of India reported on Monday. India has extended 37 LoCs worth $14.27 billion covering 162 projects to five nations in the neighbourhood. 

The LoCs projects in African nations are spread across sectors roads, railways, power, ports and shipping, education, telecom, health, and aviation, the government has stated. 

The resource-rich continent (Africa) plays a particularly important role in India’s foreign policy outlook, S Jaishankar had said earlier this month while talking about relations with Africa. He said that the foreign policy outlook is now reflected in India's expanding diplomatic footprint, which now cover 43 nations in Africa. 

According to the TOI report, India has so far completed 197 projects in Africa and 65 more are currently being implement. 81 more projects are currently in the pre-execution stage, the report stated. 

In addition to these LoCs, the government has granted assistance worth $700 million to African countries. 

Apart from African nations, India has extended 37 LoCs in Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the government said in Parliament. Out of these five nations, Nepal is getting the maximum LoCs (27) from India. This is followed by Myanmar (15), Bangladesh (12), Sri Lanka (11) and the Maldives (3).

India has also extened grant-in-aid projects in partner nations in the neighbourhood. These projects are being executed in areas such as railway links, roads and bridges, waterways, border-related infrastructure, capacity building among others in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the Ministry of External Affairs has said, TOI reported. 

“Under the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, development cooperation is an important component of our engagement with neighbouring countries,” said junior EAM V Muraleedharan.