- On January 22, 2021, the India Africa Trade Council was inaugurated by Dr. Tizita Mulugeta Yimam, Ambassador of Ethiopia in India, and Nagma Mallick, this will boost India-Africa business and trade relations.
- The African continent has a varied and largely untapped scope for multilateral business opportunities due to its abundance of natural resources, such as millions of untilled acres of farmland and large reserves of oil, as well as the potential to support a large percent of the world’s hydroelectric power besides human capital
Africa is keen to build up its business relations with India and seeks aid in strengthening the capacity of the following organizations in terms of knowledge, skills, and resources:
- Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Regional Economic Organization;
- Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS);
- The Sahel Alliance; and
- West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
- Trade Council in Chennai made the decision to send a 30-member South Indian delegation representing the Trade Council in April 2021 to sign various memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on health, skill development, and agriculture with Botswana, Namibia, and COMES
Some other initiatives by the Trade Council of Chennai were –
- India Africa Film Commission,- to shoot for south Indian films
- Discuss possible collaborations with the Indian auto giant Tata Motors
- Organizing monthly roundtables every month in Chennai, for the purpose of focusing on various African countries
- Launching the Africa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for better collaborations with African companies in the city of Kolar, Karnataka by utilizing 100 acres of land.
India is reportedly Africa’s third-largest trading partner, accounting for 6.4 percent of the continent’s total trade at a value of US$62.6 billion in 2017-18.
Trade and investment snapshot –
India’s exports to Africa range from mineral fuels to automobiles, pharmaceutical products, machinery, and cereals.
The main export destinations are – South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Algeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia.
- African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)- a key role in expanding Indian trade and investment footprint in the region and promote domestic industrial enterprise in export-oriented manufacturing, it connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries
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