Pretoria - Cabinet has approved the hosting of the third Africa-India Ministers of Trade Meeting, scheduled to be held this year.
“This meeting provides a platform to enhance Africa’s partnership in support of continental development and regional integration objectives.
“This also provides South Africa with the opportunity to collaborate with the Indian government on specific continental and regional projects of interest,” said a statement issued by Government Communications (GCIS) following Cabinet’s regular meeting this week.
The India-Africa partnership rests on three pillars, namely: capacity building and skills transfer; trade, and infrastructure development, which are aligned to South Africa’s national, regional and continental priorities.
South Africa and India are both member countries of the Brics [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] group of emerging economies. South Africa last month hosted the fifth summit of the bloc.
Africa and India formalized their engagements through the first India-Africa Forum Summit, held in New Delhi in April 2008. This summit resulted in the adoption of a declaration and framework for cooperation to further strengthen ties between African countries and India.
The Africa-India Ministers of Trade meeting was established as a platform for dialogue between trade ministers in May 2011. The hosting of this annual meeting is rotated between India and Africa.
Economic cooperation between Africa and India covers agriculture, trade and industry, small and medium enterprises, investment, finance and regional integration.
In 2011, Africa-India bilateral trade reached US$60 billion. India’s outward foreign direct investment flow into Africa has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 43% per annum since 1997.
The Africa-India cooperation has resulted in the development of several initiatives to support Africa’s growth and development including strengthening trade and investment linkages between India and Africa; enhancing cooperation on multilateral trade negotiations in the Doha Round aimed at safeguarding the interests of the developing nations, and technical assistance and capacity building initiatives.
The Africa-India Ministers of Trade Meeting is endorsed by the African Union Commission. – SAnews.gov.za
