Indian Prime Minister began a six-day trip to Africa on Monday, aiming to strike deeper economic ties with a continent rich in minerals and commodities, but where Asia’s third-largest economy lags rival China. Manmohan Singh will travel to Ethiopia and Tanzania for only the fourth African visit of his eight-year premiership, pledging development support in exchange for trade agreements to fuel growth in India’s resource-intensive economy.
He arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Monday and will visit Tanzania on Thursday. At an address to an India-Africa summit in Addis Ababa starting on Tuesday, Singh will trumpet India’s historical and cultural links with the continent to representatives of 15 African Union members in an attempt to emerge from Beijing’s shadow. “The India-Africa partnership rests on three pillars of capacity building and skill transfer, trade and infrastructure development,” Singh said in a departure statement.
“Africa is emerging as a new growth pole of the world, while India is on a path of sustained and rapid economic development.” Rival emerging economies India and China are scouring the globe to secure energy resources, minerals and food. Both are keen to stress to African nations that they are more than just trade partners and want to help the continent develop.
