Highlighting Indian investors' growing presence in Africa, union finance minister Arun Jaitley said in terms of greenfield projects, India was now the fourth largest investor in Africa with 45 projects.
Jaitley, while speaking at African Development Bank (AfDB) 52nd annual meeting being held at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on Monday, a day ahead of a formal inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"India-Africa co-operation is not a one-off event but part of a strategic policy over last several years. The present government has provided fresh impetus to these efforts. India's share of announced greenfield projects grew from 3.3 per cent in 2003-08 to 6.1 per cent in 2009-15. During the same time, China's share fell from 4.9 per cent to 3.3 per cent. India is amongst the most important emerging investors in Africa. In terms of greenfield projects, India was fourth largest investor with 45 projects in 2015 after the US, the UK, and the UAE," said Jaitley.
Quoting from AfDB's African Economic Outlook for 2016, Jaitley said that emerging economies were now a vital source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa, with India being one of the prominent members.
"Declining exports to the US and weak demand in Europe have increased the importance of BRICS countries. In 2009, only 24% of Africa's exports went to emerging countries. In 2014, BRICS and other emerging countries accounted for one half of Africa's total exports to the world," he further stated even as the finance minister called for "concrete and implementable ideas" to be discussed during the five day annual meetings which began on Monday.
Being held in different parts of the world, especially within Africa and other AfDB member nations, the 52nd annual meeting of AfDB is being held in India at Gandhinagar.
Among other things, the annual meeting will look to boost India-Africa bilateral trade further as well as India's co-operation with AfDB in areas like solar power, food and agriculture and infrastructure such as railways, the bank's president Akinwumi A. Adesina stated.
"We want to work with India on the areas of processing and value addition so that Africa doesn't only remain a raw material exporter, but also add value to the products that it produces like petroleum, precious stones and agricultural produces," said Adesina, while adding that AfDB looked for India's support in making Africa a self-reliant nation in food and agriculture as well as in value addition to key export items..
According to Adesina, the bilateral trade between India and Africa is set to almost double to $100 billion (about Rs 6.5 lakh crore) in next two years, from $56.9 billion in 2015-16. Among the sectors, AfDB expects power, especially solar, apart from pharma, ICT and services sectors to contribute to the growth of bilateral trade to $100 billion in two years.
Meanwhile, in his speech during the annual meeting of AfDB, Jaitley drew comparisons between India and Africa in terms of demographics. "India and Africa have similar demographics with a young population. We need to create jobs to take advantage of the demographic dividend. The AfDB president's agenda is not very different from our own policy priorities," Jaitley stated.