This year’s edition of the India-Africa Business Partnership Summit was held in New Delhi between 19 and 20 January. More than 250 delegates including representatives from 30 African countries attended the summit, which was jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers and Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

While inaugurating the summit, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called for increased cooperation and dialogue with African nations on crucial global issues, including Jihadi terrorism. Amongst other important issues he also referred to climate change, food and energy security, health, marine piracy and democratization of financial institutions.

While addressing delegates, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath expressed hope that India will come out of the global financial meltdown unharmed and will continue growing. He said the inflow of the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) is satisfactory and it is expected to cross US$30 billion.

Rwandan President, Mr. Paul Kagame stressed on the need to have a comprehensive strategy on Africa’s development challenges. He also stated that trade between India and Africa has reached US$30 billion and that there is a huge capacity to reach to greater heights.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame Addresses Summit

The following is the address by His Excellency Paul KAGAME, President of the Republic of Rwanda, and Chairman of the East African Community at the India-Africa Business Partnership Summit:

Honourable Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs; Honourable Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce; Honourable Ministers from Africa; Mr Harsh Pati Singhania, President-elect of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry; Indian and African Government and Business Leaders; Summit Delegations; Ladies and Gentlemen;

Permit me to first of all convey my sincere condolences to the people of India for the tragic loss of lives in the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The people of Africa stand with India as you recover and rebuild from the terrible events.

Let me also express my appreciation to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, for inviting me to deliver the Keynote Address. A vote of thanks also goes to the Government of India for supporting this Summit as well as for the gracious hospitality provided to African delegations.

In my presentation today, I wish to underscore three main points that put into context Africa’s development challenges, and the framework for addressing them sustainably, which include mainly business partnerships — the subject of this Summit.

The first issue I briefly touch on is how we in Africa are confronting factors that have historically obstructed the transformation and utilization of our continent’s enormous human and natural resources to create prosperity. The second point revolves around the changing global realities — in particular, the rise of economically successful countries outside the traditional power bloc of the West, such as India, which broadens the field for forming quality partnerships with Africa for greater wealth-creation. My third point is about the importance of this Summit in terms of practical steps for forming business partnerships.

We in Africa, in particular in East Africa, stand challenged to move towards productive and competitive economies that generate significant wealth relative to our development challenges. In this respect, the greater part of the value-chain of any economic activity, be it in agriculture, mining, petroleum or manufacturing, should no longer be the preserve of ‘other’ societies — Africa has to domesticate these processes because that is how wealth is actually created. Neither development aid, nor reliance on primary commodities will transform our countries — indeed this is what largely accounts for our underdevelopment.

The past decade, however, has seen East Africa and Africa in general make considerable progress in transcending this mindset and practice, beginning with improved security, peace, and stability. With regard to trade and investment, increasingly there is a broader consensus on accelerating regional integration, improving business climate, and the modernization of regional infrastructure.

For example, the process of creating a free trade area that incorporates the East African Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Southern African Development Community is underway — bringing together nearly six hundred million people into a single market.

There are also important developments within the existing regional markets. In East Africa, we are working on eliminating non-tariff barriers and modernizing infrastructure, integrating our capital markets, and generally harmonizing key policies and regulations to reduce the costs of doing business in our market of almost one hundred and thirty million people. In Rwanda’s case, regional integration is synonymous with development — trade, investment free movement of human and financial capital forms the core of our development vision. This is why we always request investors to consider our country not only in its own right, but also as a strategic intersection of existing regional markets.

Today’s global political economy reflects shifting realities with new robust actors playing more active roles, such as India whose interactions with Africa continue to increase. While for instance the total trade between India and Africa was US$6.5 billion in 2002-03, it increased to almost US35 billion last year. Similar trends apply to Indian investments in Africa that stood at US$3.7 billion in 2006-07 and almost doubled in a single year to US$6.8 billion in 2007-08.

The rich and multidimensional relationships between India and Africa are not new. In East Africa, the descendants of Indian immigrants during the colonial phase became the backbone of commerce and industry — I am pleased to note that currently, among leading entrepreneurs and industrialists in our region there are those who hail from this history.

Meanwhile, India itself was a staunch advocate of African independence and remains a consistent friend of our continent. Indo-African common purpose and principles in the international sphere are widely-known, for example, our shared view that agriculture should remain key to the Doha Round trade negotiations, together with the necessity to reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies in developed countries. Further, we entirely agree on the need to reform international multilateral institutions to reflect changed realities — it is absurd that with a combined population of about two billion people, neither India nor Africa is represented in United Nations Security Council.

We gather here at this Summit to take further steps in building strong relationships, at the core being business partnerships — indeed the stage is set for intensifying our investment interactions especially in the identified priority sectors of health, IT, energy, infrastructure, construction, mining, agriculture and financial services. The East African market offers enormous investment opportunities in each of these sectors not only in individual countries but also across region, especially in the development of strategic regional infrastructure projects, such as the railways.

We appreciate very much those Indian companies that are already active in East Africa and on our continent in general — and trust that more of you will join us, particularly after this important partnership Summit. Let us challenge ourselves at this New Delhi meeting to engage in results-oriented bilateral as well as trilateral round tables for each sector identified for collaboration; formulate realistic agendas for follow-up; and adopt timelines for implementing joint projects.

Reflect on how we, as Indian and African government and business leaders can quickly utilize the framework, financial support, as well as easier access to Indian markets made possible by the generous offer of the Government of India at the 2008 India-Africa Summit. This Summit, has undoubtedly taken India-Africa relationship to an even higher level — for which we express our sincere appreciation to the Government and People of this country.

We make a pledge here that we in Africa, East Africa, and Rwanda, take the opportunities availed by this Summit very seriously and are ready to play our part in creating a conducive investment climate for Indian and African investment in our respective spheres. I look forward to a fruitful dialogue based on country presentations indicating investment opportunities in the different African countries and regions.

Let us have, at the end of the Summit, a concrete roadmap of embarking on an India-Africa collaborative journey, whose ultimate prize is no less than greatly improved lives of our citizens and healthy investment returns for Indian and African investors.

I thank you very much for your kind attention.