Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, will hold first-ever bilateral visit to Ethiopia, Vivek Katju, Secretary (West), announced.

Addis Ababa, May 19 (WIC) – Briefing journalists yesterday, the secretary said that Prime Minister Singh, who will visit Ethiopia to take part on the Second Africa-India Forum Summit (May 24 to 25), will hold bilateral discussions with Ethiopia on May 25 and 26.
“This will be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to this country,” Katju told journalists.
The secretary said the Prime Minister will hold discussions with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and address the Ethiopian Parliament. According to Katju, the two leaders are expected to sign an agreement which will avoid double taxation, apart from strengthening bilateral ties.

During the past two decades, the Ethiopian Investment Agency has approved Indian investment of around 4.5 billion dollars. Agriculture and floriculture, engineering, plastics, manufacturing, cotton and textiles, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and ICT are the areas in which Indian companies have been investing in Ethiopia.

“India is a partner in Ethiopia’s development process and has extended Lines of Credits amounting to around 700 million dollars,” Katju said. “A large part of this credit is committed to the development of the sugar industry in Ethiopia”.

Fifteen African countries, selected by the African Union, are expected to participate in the Second Africa-India Forum Summit, which will be held in Addis Ababa from May 23 to 26. These countries include Algeria, Burundi, Chad, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Namibia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland and the host country Ethiopia.

“The choice of the countries is decided by the AU on the basis of the Banjul format adopted by the AU for the participation of African countries in Summits like this,” the Secretary said.

The Summit will give due emphasis on ways of increasing the level of Trade and Investment between India and Africa. According to the Secretary, the bilateral trade between India and Africa has reached 48 billion dollars and India hope to reach a target of 70 billion dollars by 2015.
source..waltainfo.com