India to negotiate FTA with AfCFTA: Commerce Minister

29 Mar '18

1 min read

Complimenting African nations on successfully concluding the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Indian minister for commerce and industry Suresh Prabhu said India will negotiate an unique free trade agreement with the AfCFTA that will be beneficial to the continent’s needs. The current India-Africa trade volume is far below potential, he noted.

Efforts are needed to step up the current India-Africa trade volume worth $53-billion and diversify the trade basket, he told the inaugural session of the 13th Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Exim Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership in New Delhi recently.

His ministry is revamping export insurance and the Project Export Promotion Council to provide the much needed boost to India’s exports to Africa, a CII press release quoted the minister as saying.

The government is also planning to set up a new India-Africa Development Fund to synergise the lines of credit and other export promotion and development programmes to bring about a more holistic development of the continent, he added. (DS)

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