With Ebola on wane, India to host mega Africa summit in October


Posted on 26th Mar 2015 11:32 am by mohit kumar

New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) With the virulence of the Ebola outbreak fading in west Africa, India is to host the postponed mega India Africa Forum Summit from October 26-30 this year, during which all the 54 member countries would be invited for the first time.

Secretary (West) in the ministry of external affairs Navtej Sarna announced at a briefing that all the 54 members of the African Union will be invited for this summit, unlike the previous summits where the engagement was with a "limited formula worked out with the Africa Union".

Announcing the schedule, he said on October 26 they would be holding the meeting of senior officials, on October 27 the foreign ministers meeting, and on the following day the heads of state would arrive. The date for the summit would be October 29 and the final day (Oct 31), would be reserved for bilaterals.

Sarna said while the concerns on Ebola remain, the "trends are looking different today" and the government did not want to put away the "far too important" engagement with Africa indefinitely.

India has given $7 billion in soft loans to Africa over the years, besides setting up various capacity building institutes and a pan-African e-network.

In the previous two summits - in 2008 in New Delhi and in 2011 in Addis Ababa - around 12-15 countries participated.

The third summit was originally scheduled to be held in June 2014 but had to be put off because of the Indian general election in May. The new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office only on May 26.

The summit was to be held in December last year in Gurgaon, but had to be postponed due to the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, which has claimed over 10,000 lives. The Ebola virus has been on the way out of late.

India-Africa trade has crossed $70 billion and Indian investment in the continent is over $32 billion.

However, China's trade links with Africa are booming. Bilateral trade volume in 2013 reached $210.2 billion, over 2,000 times that in 1960.

0 Like 0 Dislike
Previous news Next news
Other news

Refusal to increase the age of marriage of girls to 21 years: Supreme Court said- it is the work of the Parliament to decide, we alone are not the guardians of the Constitution

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed advocate Ashwini Upadhyay's plea seeking equal age of marri

Conspiracy to break India in Canada: 10,000 people voted for Khalistan; What is 93 years old the Khalistani movement?

This video is from 18 September 2022, when more than 10 thousand Khalistan supporters gathered in

Actor Govinda: Govinda stated after the accident, expressed gratitude to the doctors, also said thank you to the fans

Actor Govinda had an accident today on Tuesday morning. He was leaving for Kolkata in the morning

No support from AIUDF, AAMSU is required for redesigning district boundaries: Assam CM

There has been a continuous protest by political parties and organizations against the Assam gove

IND vs ENG Day-Night Test: Sehwag trolled ENG batsmen by sharing the video of Rahul Gandhi

The third Test match of the four-Test series between India and England is being played at the Nar

China: China again adopts strict Corona policy, makes PCR test mandatory for people coming from South Korea

Corona continues to wreak havoc in China. Even though the speed of Corona has stopped in many cou

These wireless headphones in the range of thousand rupees are making a splash, due to their powerful features, they are being sold quickly.

Amazon Deal On Earbuds: If you want to buy headphones with low latency for gaming so that outside

Corona rally in elections: rallies of leaders at an epidemic pace, Modi 6, Amit Shah 10, and Mamta Banerjee's 17 rallies in next 8 days

Corona has become uncontrollable in the country. More than 2 lakhs are getting infected every day

Salute to hard work: Photo of 12 to 14 thousand students preparing for government recruitment at Ganga Ghat in Patna went viral, people saluted

Hard work and dedication are needed the most to get to any destination. After this success comes

Gold Silver Rate Today: Gold price rises, silver rises, know the price of your city before buying

Wednesday marks the seventh day of the Russo-Ukraine war and the situation in Ukraine has worsene

Sign up to write
Sign up now if you have flare of writing..
Login   |   Register
Follow Us
Indyaspeak @ Facebook Indyaspeak @ Twitter Indyaspeak @ Pinterest RSS



Play Free Quiz and Win Cash