India and Africa have decided to revise bilateral trade upwards to $90 billion in the next three years, the Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said at the second India-Africa Business Council. This is a significant improvement, considering the fact that a decade ago the trade was just $3 billion.
The African Union Commission (AUC) Commissioner for Economic Affairs Maxwell M Mkwezalamba said on the occasion that the African nations are keen on increasing their collaboration with India. It is also decided that India would set up an integrated textiles cluster in Africa with state-of-the-art infrastructure and a public-private partnership model of governance. The cluster is expected to attract investments to the tune of $350 million and provide employment to 60,000 people.
To suggest the way forward on enhancing economic and commercial relations between India and Africa the “India-Africa Business Council (IABC) is also launched. Besides this, the Cotton Technical Assistance Programme in the African nations, is to help the African cotton growing countries to build capacity, technical expertise and thereby competitiveness in the field.
The two sides are also inclined to enhance the economic ties by reducing tariffs on several key products and also working on setting up a diamond institute in Botswana.
