India promises to be Africa’s most steadfast partner, said Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar.

While addressing the Inaugural Session of the 15th CII – Exim Bank Digital Conclave on India – Africa Project Partnership, the minister said India kept its supply lines open during the peak of the COVID pandemic and ensured that critical supplies such as medicines and medical equipment reached countries in need in Africa.

He re-iterated the commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the Ugandan Parliament and stated that Africa remains at the top of India’s priorities and that the partnership with Africa would continue to be guided by Africa’s needs.

To this end, he noted that the Government of India had already undertaken 194 development projects in 37 countries and 77 more projects in 29 countries were in the pipeline. These projects were in the areas of ICT, water, agriculture, infrastructure development among others.

He referred to digitalization as being a force multiplier and stated that India’s e-VidyaBharati and e-AarogyaBharati projects were empowering Africans in terms of tele-education and tele-medicine. Similarly, India’s ITEC programme was helping build IT capacity in Africa.

The Minister observed that Indian industry had also invested in a big way in Africa with investments in consumer goods, automotives and pharmaceuticals among others.

He stated that India’s oil and gas companies had invested US$ 7 billion in oil exploration in Mozambique and South Sudan. In addition, India’s Duty Free Tariff Preference programme had provided enormous market access to African goods in Indian markets.

Looking ahead, the Minister stated that cooperation in areas such as defence and security would form a key pillar of the India – Africa partnership. Maritime security, in his view, would be the new frontier.