During third India Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi in 2015, India announced concessional credit of US $ 10 billion over the next five years to Africa, in addition to the on-going credit programme.
Committed grant assistance of US $ 600 million with
India-Africa Development Fund of US $ 100 million
India-Africa Health Fund of US $ 10 million
Asia-Africa Growth Corridor is another initiative
History- Pietermaritzburg Railway Station in Durban
On June 7 in 1893 Mahatma Gandhi, a young lawyer was travelling from Durban to Pretoria for work. He had bought a first class ticked but was thrown off the train with his bag and baggage at Pietermaritzburg railway station in Durban. The station now hosts a beautiful Gandhi exhibition.
Sci-Tech Relations
Inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in the field of Science & Technology was concluded in 1995.
Coperation focused on areas like astronomy & astrophysics, agriculture sciences, green chemistry, indigenous knowledge system and health sciences
S&T cooperation got a significant boost in 2016 with launch of 8 new projects on Astronomy for augmenting the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project led by South Africa in Karoo desert of which India is also a member country.
A multi-institutional project on HIV Vaccine Research Collaboration was also initiated this year to develop preventive HIV vaccine.
Collaboration is also happening to identify biomarkers and develop of novel techniques for diagnosis and management of tuberculosis.
Gandhi-Mandela Program on Grass Root Innovation
A new program on Grass Root Innovation aimed towards sharing of open source technologies and IPR protection of traditional knowledge systems.
Designed for co-development of products through value addition, validation through product deployment and market ready technology transfer with a focus on affordability.
Cooperation on grass root innovation aims to provide scientific and technological solutions for addressing the needs of the common person.
National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad will implement this program from the Indian side.
About the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Radio Telescope
Large multi radio telescope project to be built in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Total collecting area of approximately one square km and operation over a wide range of frequencies with size making it 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument.
Very high performance central, computing engines and long-haul links will allow it to survey sky ten thousand times faster than ever before
India is contributing for work packages of SKA- Telescope Manager and the Central Signal Processing.
Telescope Manager System will control the functioning of the SKA observatory.
Addresses most interesting goals in astrophysics like understanding very early Universe and search for intelligent life.
Djibouti and India- Military Bases of US and China Side by Side
An agreement was signed between Djibouti and India to establish regular political consultations between, at the level of the Foreign Office
Recently, Djibouti acquired significance as result of geopolitical developments and presence of military bases of US and China side by side
President Kovind this year became the first Indian President to visit Djibouti.
Historically, port of Adulis in Djibouti was hub of maritime trade for Indian seafarers for trading in spices and silk for gold and ivory.
Djibouti is strategically located at confluence of Red Sea with Indian Ocean in Horn of Africa connecting Africa, Middle East, and Asia.
Djibouti opened embassy at New Delhi in 2004, but India does not have embassy in Djibouti. .
Djibouti supported India during Operation Rahat for evacuating Indians from war-torn Yemen in 2015.
Bilateral trade between both countries is on increase in India՚s favor.
In 2014 - 15, bilateral trade stood at US $ 239.43 million with India՚s exports being US $ 237.96 million and imports at US $ 1.47 million.
Trade with Djibouti serves growing market in Ethiopia with main exported items being iron & steel products, paper, and plastic products.
In modern times, Djibouti and India share common concerns like terrorism; renewable energy and particularly Djibouti՚s support for membership of the International Solar Alliance; maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region; and technical and capacity building assistance by India to enhance employment opportunities for Djibouti՚s young people.
Ethiopia: Trade and Investment Relationship
Ethiopia and India are trading for centuries with trade relations flourishing during ancient Axumite Empire from the 1st century AD.
Economic relationship covers trade, private investment, concessional loans for infrastructure projects and development assistance, largely for capacity building.
India is now among the top three foreign investors in Ethiopia- in textiles and garments, engineering, plastics, water management, consultancy and ICT, education, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare with significant presence in manufacturing and value addition to local resources.
Indian investment has created jobs promoting trade and commerce between India and Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is largest recipient of Indian concessional lines of credit in Africa with over US $ 1 billion committed to projects in power transmission and sugar.
India, Ethiopia Signed Agreements on Trade, Communication
India and Ethiopia signed agreements on trade, communication, and media to boost bilateral ties- between President Ram Nath Kovind and his Ethiopian counterpart Mulatu Teshome at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia:
Trade Agreement
Agreement in field of Information, Communication and Media.
India-Ethiopia Relations
Indian Trade in Ethiopia
Bilateral partnership between India and Ethiopia rests on civilizational ties and cultural bonds with historical linkages going back 2,000 years.
India is third most important trading partner for Ethiopia accounting for US $ 890 million i.e.. 11% of all of Ethiopia՚s imports comprised primary and semifinished iron and steel products, drugs and pharmaceuticals, machinery and instruments, metal, plastic chemicals, transport equipments, electrical materials etc.
India՚s annual imports from Ethiopia have stagnated in range of US $ 30million consisting mainly of cotton, pulses, and spices.
Ethiopia is largest recipient of India՚s concessional Lines of Credit in Africa, with commitment of over one billion dollars.
India is second largest foreign investor in Ethiopia with approved investment of US $ 4.78 billion with 40% of Indian investment being in commercial agriculture.
India is playing important role in fields of ITEC, education, Science and Technology and Defence
Potential Collaboration between India and Africa
Future expansion of collaboration in the area of renewable energy including solar, wind and biomass- potential resource for both the countries. India extended International Solar Alliance partnership invitation to S. Africa.
Another area of potential collaboration is on blue economy looking at the marine eco-system. Both India and S. Africa are maritime nations part of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.