Leaders of India and 14 African countries concluded here their first-ever India-Africa Forum Summit on Wednesday by issuing a declaration and a cooperation blueprint to forge a more contemporary partnership in key areas like trade, energy, the UN reforms, anti-terrorism and global warming.
In the Delhi Declaration issued after the summit, India and Africa agreed to reinforce the multi-dimensional relations between them and decided to help each other to become more self-reliant and to work together to strengthen their close partnership.
India, an aspirant for the permanent membership of UN Security Council, is seeking the crucial support of African countries in bringing about reforms in the world body.
India and Africa countries agreed to "further strengthen cooperation towards early realization of a genuine reform of the United Nations and its working methods, particularly revitalizing and enhancing the role of the General Assembly and reform and expansion of the Security council."
"Africa takes note of India's position and its aspirations to become a permanent member with full rights in an expanded UN Security Council", the document said.
India and Africa reaffirmed their commitment to providing "meaningful" market access to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and called on the members of WTO to implement duty-free and quota-free market access for all products originating from the LDCs.
On the issue of climate change, they expressed regret over the lack of demonstrable progress by developed countries on Green House Gas reduction commitments in the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. "We emphasize the need for equitable and fair burden sharing in mitigation which must take into account historical emissions", said the declaration.
The Framework for Cooperation covers agreed areas of cooperation in many sectors including education, science and technology, agricultural productivity, food security, industrial growth, infrastructure and the development of the health sector.
The cooperation blueprint also includes closer partnership in all these areas and an intensification of economic and strategic ties, with India focusing on technology transfers and human resource development aimed at empowering African countries.
India has announced preferential market access to exports from 34 least developed African countries and agreed to more than double financial package for development of the resource-rich continent.
In his inaugural address at the two-day summit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said "India wishes to see the 21st century as the century of Asia and Africa with the people of the two continents working together to promote inclusive globalization."
Singh said India will double financial credit to Africa to 5.4 billion dollars in the next five years from the current 2.15 billion dollars..
India's commitment for overall development and progress, he said, was steadfast as it was keen to see Africa find its rightful place in the world.
Prime Minister Singh described Africa as the "land of awakening", adding that the two billion people of India and Africa could set an example of "fruitful partnership."
The India-Africa trade volume has increased by 285 percent to 25 billion U.S. dollars in the last four years. This has raised Africa 's share in India's global trade from 5.8 percent in 2002-03 to 8 percent in 2006-07, according to the latest survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Meanwhile, African leaders attending the summit called for more concrete measures to forge a closer economic engagement between the two billion people of India and Africa.
In a speech at the two-day summit, Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila said, "Africa needs to meet fundamental needs of its population by building schools, providing housing and generating employment. Words, speeches and promises have remained mere words, we need immediate visible projects."
African Union Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare said infrastructure, health, education, science and food security were areas where it wanted Indian know-how.
He also urged Africa to shed its image of being a "mere market for raw materials, purchased at low prices." "We want to deal with equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit..." he added.
"There are immense opportunities for cooperation. We want to deal on the basis of a win-win policy for mutual benefit," Konare said.
For his part, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni urged Indian government to encourage Indian companies to invest in Africa. "It is my sincere hope that the India-Africa Summit shall, indeed, concretize the existing ties between India and Africa as well as promote future areas for cooperation and development strategies", said President Museveni.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade proposed to create an evaluation and monitoring mechanism of the summit to "ensure the implementation of these commitments, identify the achievements, assess the insufficiencies and propose the necessary redressing."
Heads of state and government and officials from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Libya, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia attended the April 8-9 summit.
Source: Xinhua
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