ON BOARD SPECIAL AIRCRAFT: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Tuesday said his three-nation Africa visit used to be "extremely productive" and has taken the India-Africa relations to next level by way of reinforcing existing ties and forging cooperation in new areas.
Naidu returned to New Delhi this morning after his six-day visit of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
"In the last four and a half years of this government, 29 visits to Africa have taken place at the level of president, vice president and prime minister. This is truly unprecedented," Naidu informed media on board the particular Air India aircraft.
India provides high priority to relations with Africa, Naidu said.
"You are aware of the high priority government gives to our relations with Africa. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently set out 10 guiding principles to enhance our engagement with Africa. My visit to these three countries was in this context," he said, adding that the excursion used to be "extremely productive".
Naidu said his excursion used to be the first high-level visit to these three nations after an important gap. "In fact, in Zimbabwe, it was after 21 years and the president of Zimbabwe was appreciative that I visited the country soon after his election as the president," he added.
"The leadership of these countries received me with great warmth. The president of Botswana flew back from his visit to Mozambique to meet me at the airport on his arrival. The President of Zimbabwe spent more than an hour with me to discuss various issues of mutual interest. The Malawi president was himself my host and even hosted a vegetarian luncheon banquet in my honour where the First Lady was also present. These were special gestures shown to me," he said.
India and the three African nations proportion an identical values, common bonds of democracy and shared history of colonialism, he said.
"My visit was to build on these strong foundations and take our relations to next level by reinforcing existing ties and forging relationship in new areas," he said.
"The outcome of my visit clearly indicates that this has been achieved. These are also countries which India has strongly supported in their socio-economic development. This was unequivocally acknowledged by all the three presidents," he said.
The president of Zimbabwe "openly thanked India" for status by way of them right through their length of isolation, he said.
At the India-Africa Summit III, India had agreed to increase Lines of Credit to Africa of USD 10 billion over 5 years along with USD 600 million as grant, he said.
"During my visit, I made substantial commitment to them on development partnership and assistance. Major commitments made includes, inter-alia, USD 350 million for projects in Zimbabwe and USD 220 million of Lines of Credit for water supply projects in Malawi and setting up of the Mahatma Gandhi Convention Centre in Zimbabwe and Malawi as grant assistance," Naidu said.
"The president of Malawi specifically asked our assistance for skills development which I readily agreed to. I invited all of them to participate actively in the tele-education and tele-medicine project India has launched recently across Africa," he said.
"India can also be gifting one lakh NCERT faculty textbooks for classes eight to 12 in Malawi, he said.
During his Africa visit, there have been discussions on encouraging engagement, especially within the areas of agriculture, health, pharmaceuticals, ICT, minerals and mining, diamond trading, railways and infrastructure and logistics, Naidu said.
"All the three leaders were appreciative of the function the Indian private sector used to be enjoying in making an investment of their respective nations and contributing to their building," he said.
Minerals, especially rare earth minerals and their trading came in for specific discussion since most of these three nations are rich in minerals including uranium, copper, nickel and so on, he said.
"We signed an MoU with Malawi on offering capacity construction in nuclear power regulatory framework, and its protection, protection and so on. holding in thoughts the rich deposits of uranium and rare earth minerals in Malawi. We additionally signed an MoU on geology, mining and minerals with Zimbabwe. Direct trading in uncooked diamonds used to be additionally discussed with Botswana and Zimbabwe," he said.
The three nations were "deeply appreciative" of clinical services and products in India in addition to the services and products being rendered by way of India's private sector hospitals of their respective nations and the ever-increasing want for Indian pharmaceuticals merchandise, Naidu said.
Agriculture used to be some other space of center of attention right through the visit, he said.
"We are setting up the India-Africa Institute for Agriculture and Rural Development in Malawi which is able to cater to Africa on coaching and capacity construction," he said. "We additionally agreed to import mangoes from Malawi as a unique gesture," he added.
Defence cooperation is some other space where there may be promise of greater cooperation with those three nations, Naidu said.
"We have been able to effectively conclude negotiations right through my visit for sending Indian army coaching team to Botswana, with whom we have now had shut defence relations since 1978," he said.
On his conferences with the Indian neighborhood in all of the three nations, Naidu said he is satisfied to say that the Indian diaspora and NRIs in those nations are enjoying a very powerful function of their financial building and are very popular by way of their leadership for his or her industry and hardwork.
Naidu returned to New Delhi this morning after his six-day visit of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
"In the last four and a half years of this government, 29 visits to Africa have taken place at the level of president, vice president and prime minister. This is truly unprecedented," Naidu informed media on board the particular Air India aircraft.
India provides high priority to relations with Africa, Naidu said.
"You are aware of the high priority government gives to our relations with Africa. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently set out 10 guiding principles to enhance our engagement with Africa. My visit to these three countries was in this context," he said, adding that the excursion used to be "extremely productive".
Naidu said his excursion used to be the first high-level visit to these three nations after an important gap. "In fact, in Zimbabwe, it was after 21 years and the president of Zimbabwe was appreciative that I visited the country soon after his election as the president," he added.
"The leadership of these countries received me with great warmth. The president of Botswana flew back from his visit to Mozambique to meet me at the airport on his arrival. The President of Zimbabwe spent more than an hour with me to discuss various issues of mutual interest. The Malawi president was himself my host and even hosted a vegetarian luncheon banquet in my honour where the First Lady was also present. These were special gestures shown to me," he said.
India and the three African nations proportion an identical values, common bonds of democracy and shared history of colonialism, he said.
"My visit was to build on these strong foundations and take our relations to next level by reinforcing existing ties and forging relationship in new areas," he said.
"The outcome of my visit clearly indicates that this has been achieved. These are also countries which India has strongly supported in their socio-economic development. This was unequivocally acknowledged by all the three presidents," he said.
The president of Zimbabwe "openly thanked India" for status by way of them right through their length of isolation, he said.
At the India-Africa Summit III, India had agreed to increase Lines of Credit to Africa of USD 10 billion over 5 years along with USD 600 million as grant, he said.
"During my visit, I made substantial commitment to them on development partnership and assistance. Major commitments made includes, inter-alia, USD 350 million for projects in Zimbabwe and USD 220 million of Lines of Credit for water supply projects in Malawi and setting up of the Mahatma Gandhi Convention Centre in Zimbabwe and Malawi as grant assistance," Naidu said.
"The president of Malawi specifically asked our assistance for skills development which I readily agreed to. I invited all of them to participate actively in the tele-education and tele-medicine project India has launched recently across Africa," he said.
"India can also be gifting one lakh NCERT faculty textbooks for classes eight to 12 in Malawi, he said.
During his Africa visit, there have been discussions on encouraging engagement, especially within the areas of agriculture, health, pharmaceuticals, ICT, minerals and mining, diamond trading, railways and infrastructure and logistics, Naidu said.
"All the three leaders were appreciative of the function the Indian private sector used to be enjoying in making an investment of their respective nations and contributing to their building," he said.
Minerals, especially rare earth minerals and their trading came in for specific discussion since most of these three nations are rich in minerals including uranium, copper, nickel and so on, he said.
"We signed an MoU with Malawi on offering capacity construction in nuclear power regulatory framework, and its protection, protection and so on. holding in thoughts the rich deposits of uranium and rare earth minerals in Malawi. We additionally signed an MoU on geology, mining and minerals with Zimbabwe. Direct trading in uncooked diamonds used to be additionally discussed with Botswana and Zimbabwe," he said.
The three nations were "deeply appreciative" of clinical services and products in India in addition to the services and products being rendered by way of India's private sector hospitals of their respective nations and the ever-increasing want for Indian pharmaceuticals merchandise, Naidu said.
Agriculture used to be some other space of center of attention right through the visit, he said.
"We are setting up the India-Africa Institute for Agriculture and Rural Development in Malawi which is able to cater to Africa on coaching and capacity construction," he said. "We additionally agreed to import mangoes from Malawi as a unique gesture," he added.
Defence cooperation is some other space where there may be promise of greater cooperation with those three nations, Naidu said.
"We have been able to effectively conclude negotiations right through my visit for sending Indian army coaching team to Botswana, with whom we have now had shut defence relations since 1978," he said.
On his conferences with the Indian neighborhood in all of the three nations, Naidu said he is satisfied to say that the Indian diaspora and NRIs in those nations are enjoying a very powerful function of their financial building and are very popular by way of their leadership for his or her industry and hardwork.
Africa visit extremely productive, says M Venkaiah Naidu
![Africa visit extremely productive, says M Venkaiah Naidu]()
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November 06, 2018
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