Textile & other clusters will increase India-Africa trade

19 Mar '12

5 min read

The Ministers recognized the important role of the following Pan-African Institutions being set up by the Indian Government under the umbrella of the 'India-Africa Forum Summit', for capacity building and human resource development across many areas :-

(i) India-Africa Institute of Foreign Trade,
(ii) India-Africa Diamond Institute,
(iii) India-Africa Institute of Educational Planning and Administration
(iv) India-Africa Institute of Information Technology
(v) India-Africa Food Processing Cluster,
(vi) India-Africa Integrated Textile Cluster,
(vii) India-Africa Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting,
(viii) India-Africa University for Life and Earth Sciences,
(ix) India-Africa Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development, and
(x) India-Africa Civil Aviation Academy.

The African Ministers acknowledged the Indian Government's initiative to set up an Integrated Textiles as well as other clusters in African countries, to address the need for value-addition in the textiles sector in Africa. The proposed Integrated Clusters are expected to garner investments of US $350 mn and generate employment for 60,000 textile workers.

The following Ministers from the African region participated in the 2nd India-Africa Trade Ministers Meeting:-

i. Hon'ble Dr. Maxwell Mkwezalamba, Commissioner for Economic Affairs, (Equivalent to Minister), African Union
ii. Hon'ble Ms.Victoire Ndikumana, Minister of Trade, Industry, Posts and Tourism, Republic of Burundi.
iii. Hon'ble Ms. Marlyn Mouliom Roosalem, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Central African Republic
iv. Hon'ble Mr.Mahamat Allaou Taher, Hon'ble Minister of Commerce and Industry, Republic of Chad
v. Hon'ble Mr. Kebede Chane, Minister of Trade, Ethiopia
vi. Hon'ble Ms. Miata Beysolow, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Government of Liberia, Liberia
vii. Hon'ble John Bande, MP, Minister of Industry and Trade, Republic of Malawi
viii. Hon'ble Tjekero Tweya, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Namibia
ix. H. E. Mr. Ahoumey-Zunu Kwesi A Leleagodji Lolonyo, Minister of
Trade and Private Sector Promotion, Togo
x. H. E. Ms. Amelia Kyambadde , Minister of Trade, Industry & Cooperatives, Uganda.
xi. Hon'ble Mr. Bright Rwomi Rama, Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Uganda
xii. Hon. Robert K Sichinga, MP, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Zambia

During the meeting, India and Africa reiterated their commitment towards the centrality of the development dimension and the expeditious completion of the Least Developed Countries' (LDC) issues in the Doha Development Agenda, and agreed that by concluding the Doha Round of negotiations with development at its core, the multilateral trading system envisaged by the WTO would be strengthened.

India and Africa share a common platform on many issues of importance to developing countries and their joint efforts have played a key role in preventing any dilution of the development agenda.

The 'India-Africa Trade Ministers Dialogue' is an annual event, of which the 1st meeting was held in Addis Ababa in May, 2011, on the occasion of the 2nd Africa-India Forum Summit held at Head of State level.

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

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