'African Dvpt Bank will learn lessons in agri practices'

The Annual General Meeting of African Development Bank, being hosted by India here in May, will provide African nations an opportunity to learn lessons in agricultural practices from India, its president Akinwumi Adesina said today.

ADB holds its AGM in a rotational manner in African and non-African countries, and Indian government will host its 52nd AGM at Mahatma Mandir here between May 22-26 on the theme of agriculture, and creating wealth from agricultural transformation in Africa, he said.

"The ADB is made up of 80 countries, 54 of which are African countries and rest are non-African. India is a very significant part of ADB and Africa Development Fund, which is also part of the Bank," Adesina, who was here to see the preparations for the upcoming AGM, told mediapersons.
 

"The theme of the AGM here is agriculture, and creating wealth from agricultural transformation in Africa. I am delighted to be in India which has seen huge success in green revolution.

"India became self-sufficient in food through sheer political will, technology, and food policy, so we will discuss what lessons we can learn from this country," he said.

Earlier in the day, Adesina also called on Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

"India and Africa have a very special relationship. If you look at trade between the two countries, it has seen significant rise in recent times, from USD 11.9 billion in 2005-06 to USD 56.7 billion in 2015-16," he said.

Adesina added that India is also an important country for Africa in terms of Foreign Direct Investment, with FDI by India in Africa in the last twenty years cumulatively standing at USD 24 billion.

"The AGM will see participation by private sectors from all over Africa, ministers of finances from 80 countries will also be present. We will also have heads of states from several African countries. It will be a real interaction between India and Africa," he said.

The event will also provide platform to Indian film industry -- Bollywood and Nigerian film industry -- Nollywood to interact with each other, he said.