India-Africa summit kicks off in Delhi

 As the India-Africa partnership summit gets underway in the capital, India is likely to increase its Line of Credit to African nations besides creating more skill development opportunities for African students in Indian institutions.

Currently, India offered credit lines worth $7.4 billion to African nations, out of which $ 6.8 billion has been approved and $3.5 billion disbursed to implement 137 projects in 41 African nations.

An increase of the credit line appears to be on the cards though there is no official words.

When asked, Syed Akbaruddin, chief coordinator for the Africa summit refused to come out with any figure on the increase and maintains that all announcements would be made at the summit on October 29.

Every member of African Union – 54 nations – would be attending the summit.
However, all African nations would not be represented by the heads of states or government. Close to 40 heads of African nations are expected whereas other nations would be represented by senior ministers.

“Every institution and country will be present when Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) takes the floor on October 29,” said Akbaruddin.

An increase in the number of scholarships and other skill development initiatives may also be on the cards, as Akbaruddin said India paid maximum attention on human resources in Africa.

Since the last summit in 2011, India gave away 25,000 scholarships to African students with education and skill development emerging as a major area of cooperation.

The officials are negotiating two documents, which would be adopted at the summit.
The first one is on the

political partnership between India and other African nations whereas the second document is a framework of cooperation in developmental partnership.

A conclave of the foreign ministers would take place on Tuesday, which would be followed by the summit on Thursday.

On the night of October 29, President Pranab Mukherjee would host a banquet for the dignitaries.