NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a series of bilateral meetings with African leaders on the margins of India Africa Forum Summit. Mr Modi held bilateral interactions with President of Zimbabwe Gabriel Mugabe, Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, King of Swaziland King Mswati III, Benin’s President Dr Boni Yayi, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in the morning session.
More such bilateral meetings are planned later in the day, with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also engaging her counterparts in wide-ranging discussions. After meetings of senior officials and foreign ministers, India’s leadership is engaging its African counterparts in a more informal format.
India Africa Business Forum also kick-started this morning in which the delegates from India and African countries were discussing means to launch new initiatives and take further the existing ones. Going by the discussions held on the first two days of the Summit, African countries seem to be more keen on getting India’s assistance in strengthening their defence capabilities to take on terror groups and also in development of key areas of agriculture, health, IT and education and development of infrastructure.
Their requests came during the bilateral meetings of their foreign ministers with Ms Swaraj. The countries showed interest in the ‘Make in India’ and some countries like South Africa offered their raw material to be exploited for making in India. (UNI)
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