PM leaves for Ethiopia, Tanzania

As he boards the flight to Ethiopia tomorrow morning, to become the first Indian Prime Minister to step on Ethiopian soil and later, Tanzania, Manmohan Singh will be looking forward to enhance the “strong and purposeful” partnership between India and Africa.

As the Indian economy is on a rise and Africa too, is “emerging as a new growth pole of the world”, Singh said there are compelling factors for stronger ties between the two sides “that responds to the realities of the 21st century”, the Prime Minister said today.

During his five-day stay in the second-largest continent, Singh will participate in the Second Africa-India Forum Summit in Addis Ababa, and later visit Tanzania. Singh will also lead the country in a summit with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Aware of a strong presence of China, which has much higher investments than India in Africa, New Delhi is aiming to consolidate its capacity-building initiatives and expand cooperation on African soil. Singh, in his statement today, also made it clear that his visit was “designed to respond to the needs and priorities of Africa and for India to learn from Africa’s rich experience”.

“The India-Africa partnership rests on three pillars of capacity building and skill transfer, trade and infrastructure development. It is based on equality, mutual trust and a consultative and transparent approach. It is a living embodiment of South-South cooperation,” the PM said in his statement today.

Ahead of his first foreign trip after the completion of two years by the second UPA government, Singh also pointed out that both Africa and India were on the move. He emphasised that relations between India and Africa were marked by strong people-to-people interaction and a deep sense of solidarity and goodwill. “Both Africa and India have the advantage of a youthful population, commitment to democracy, pluralism and spirit of entrepreneurship. The large population of people of Indian origin in all parts of Africa is a living testimony to our historical links,” he said.

The Prime Minister is confident the Second Africa-India Forum Summit will be a landmark event as this will bring together, for the first time, a large gathering of African leaders to meet with India on African soil.

During the bilateral summit with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Singh hopes to review ways to further expand and deepen the bilateral cooperation. He will also address a joint session of the Ethiopian parliament.