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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO: 2053 (NW2302E)
Mr LS Ngonyama (COPE) to ask the Minister of International Relations and
Cooperation:
Whether any progress has been made at the recent Africa-India Summit in
Ethiopia during the period 24 to 26 May 2011 in terms of future development
in South Africa; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply
The Africa-India partnership focuses specifically on capacity building and
Human Resource Development, in this regard, pre-Summit several institutions
were already set up in Africa, namely:
⢠African Institute of Foreign Trade (Uganda);
⢠Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (Burundi);
⢠The African Diamond Institute (Botswana);
⢠Institute of Information Technology (Ghana);
⢠Pan African Stock Exchange (Egypt);
⢠10 Vocational Training Centres (Burkina Faso; The Gambia; Rwanda;
Ethiopia; Mozambique; Zimbabwe; Burundi; Gabon; Libya and Egypt);
⢠5 Low Cost Housing Pilot-Projects (1 per region in Africa).
These institutions are beneficial to South Africa in that the terms under
which they have been developed allow for any country on the Continent to
receive capacity building from them, i.e. South Africans can receive
diamond-training at the African Diamond Institute in Botswana.
In addition, during the Summit, the Ministerial Meeting concluded with the
signing of 14 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUâs) on additional capacity
building institutions that shall be set up on the African continent. The
envisioned institutions are as follows:
⢠An India-Africa-Virtual University would be set up with 10 000 proposed
new scholarships;
⢠Africa-India Food Processing Cluster;
⢠Africa-India Integrated Textiles Cluster;
⢠Africa-India Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting; and
⢠Africa-India Institute of Agriculture and Rural Development.
South Africa is considering hosting one of these institutions. The
Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the Department of
Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture have taken this under
consideration, specifically the possibility of hosting the Africa-India
Food Processing Cluster.
The Africa-India partnership also offers scholarships and training
programmes in several fields, these are open to all African countries,
including South Africa. Training and capacity-building are offered in the
following areas:
⢠Customized training (2-4 weeks) in
i) Water conservation and utilization
ii) Production of seed, sapling & planting material
iii) Livestock production
iv) Fisheries production
v) Farm mechanization
vi) Post harvest processing and value addition
⢠Joint international training of trainers in the field of sports
management and development, including sports medical care;
⢠Food processing: Training and capacity building to 350 persons (10 to
each Sub-Saharan African country);
⢠Housing and Power Poverty Alleviation: Training of engineers skilled
and semi-skilled workers, small entrepreneurs, project managers both
in India and host country;
⢠Training of media persons.
Furthermore, the Indian government has pledged US $5 billion over the next
three years under lines of credit to help achieve African development goals
and will work with the African Regional Economic Communities (RECâs) to
establish, at the regional level, Soil, Water and Tissue Testing
Laboratories; Regional Farm Science Centres; Seed Production Centres; and
Material Testing Laboratories for Highways.
The South African and African perspective of this partnership is that is
yielding high benefits and is providing deliverables at a significantly
faster rate than any other African Multilateral Partnership.
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