India pledged yesterday to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in development projects in Africa in an attempt to bolster its presence on the continent, where economic rival China has already invested billions of dollars.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, speaking to the leaders of 14 African nations attending the first India-Africa summit, said India would provide more than US$500 million over the next five to six years in grants for development projects.
“The time has come to create a new infrastructure for our engagement in the 21st century,” he said.
Singh also said India was planning to more than double its lines of credit to African countries and regional economic groups to US$5.4 billion, up from US$2.15 billion in the last five years.
Two-way trade between India and the African continent totals about US$30 billion a year, having grown sixfold in the last five years, Indian Junior Minister for External Affairs Anand Sharma said.
In comparison, trade between China and Africa surged from US$55 billion in 2006 to US$73.3 billion last year, Xinhua news agency reported. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said in 2006 that China should strive to bring the trade volume to US$100 billion by 2010.
India’s interest in Africa is seen in part as an attempt to counter Chinese influence in the region.
In 2006, China hosted leaders from almost 50 African nations for the first summit between Chinese and African officials, showcasing a vigorous relationship centered around oil and aid.
In the last few years China and India have both bolstered their presence in many oil-rich African nations.
Last year companies from both countries won in a round of bids for exploration licenses in Nigeria, Africa’s leading oil exporter.
China is Sudan’s largest trading partner and absorbs most of the country’s oil exports. Beijing is also the largest trading partner of South Africa, the continent’s economic powerhouse.
But Sharma denied that India’s interest in the continent was fueled by the rivalry.
“India’s engagement with Africa is time tested, different and cannot be compared to any other country,” Sharma said.
“We are not looking at gains, nor are we seeking to compete with anyone,” he said.
Turning heads as they cruise past office buildings and malls, driverless taxis are slowly spreading through Chinese cities, prompting both wariness and wonder. China’s tech companies and vehicle manufacturers have poured billions of dollars into self-driving technology over the past few years in an effort to catch industry leaders in the US. Now the central city of Wuhan boasts one of the world’s largest networks of self-driving cars, home to a fleet of more than 500 taxis that can be hailed on an app just like regular rides. At one intersection in an industrial area of Wuhan, AFP reporters saw at least five
China and Vietnam yesterday inked 14 documents spanning cross-border railways to crocodile exports after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with new Vietnamese leader To Lam in Beijing. The Vietnamese president’s visit to Beijing, his first overseas trip since becoming the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam earlier this month, signals a desire between the two communist neighbors to strengthen ties, amid growing trade and investment, despite occasional clashes over boundaries in the South China Sea. “China has always regarded Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and supports Vietnam in adhering to the party leadership, taking the socialist
A former Saudi Arabian official alleged in a report that the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman forged the signature of his father on the royal decree that launched the kingdom’s years-long, stalemated war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the allegations made without supporting evidence by Saad al-Jabri in an interview published yesterday by the BBC, but the kingdom has described him as “a discredited former government official.” Al-Jabri, a former Saudi Arabian intelligence official who lives in exile in Canada, has been a years-long dispute with the kingdom as
‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’: Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges were assisting with emergency cases as more than 1 million doctors were expected to strike Hospitals and clinics across India yesterday turned away patients except for emergency cases as medical professionals began a 24-hour shutdown in protest against the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata. More than 1 million doctors were expected to join the strike, paralyzing medical services across the world’s most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases. The strike, which began at 6am, cut off access to elective medical procedures and out-patient consultations, the Indian Medical Association said in a statement. The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied