India, Africa eye closer tie amid fast dev of trade flow

ADDIS ABABA, May 19 (Xinhua): India and Africa have eyed closer relations ahead of the upcoming five-day second India-Africa Form Summit starting Friday as the economic and trade flows between them are gaining momentum. Statistics show that the bilateral trade between India and Africa recorded 5.5 billion US dollars in 2001. However, the number doubled between 2005 and 2006 and reached 45 billion dollars in 2010. Over the past seven years, the total trade volume between India and Africa has grown as many as seven times. They have set a target to take the two-way commerce to 70 billion dollars by 2015 on the back of increasing economic engagement between the two sides. As a barometer of the India-Africa economic relations, the India-Africa conclave this year has seen over 200 projects worth 18 billion dollars discussed in sectors ranging from education to energy. The conclave witnessed the largest ever participation with 650 delegates. With their fast development of their economic and trade relations, India and Africa have also seen a drastic increase in investment over the past years. Between 2000 and 2007, the Indian investment in Africa jumped by 837 per cent and in 2009, Africa hosted about 33 per cent of total Indian foreign investment. For the time being, India's investment in Africa is mainly in sectors including petroleum, natural gas exploitation, telecommunication, traffic, IT and so on. As an important testimony to the fast-growing India-Africa economic and trade relations, the first India-Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi in 2008 saw India extend 5.4 billion-dollar worth of lines of credit to Africa for a period of five years, since 2009-10, as well as grants of 500 million dollars.