 Africa, encompassing 54 nations and over 1 billion people. A continent in transformation. A transformation that is powered by the ample natural and human resources of the continent. A land of contrasts too, changing with the times. Africa is today open to the world and is home to the world's fastest growing middle class consumer base. The GDP of the several African countries is growing at a rate that is significantly higher than the rest of the world. Africa continues to grow despite the challenges it offers the last bastion of growth and what we have seen is a rise in middle class in Africa rise in consumption in Africa between 2000 and 2010 nearly 130 million people got added to the middle class and by 2020 another 100 million are expected to be there. So clearly it's a very very large market the Indian investors, Indian business people are indeed focusing on Africa in a bigger way. The genesis of India's modern collaboration with Africa started in colonial times. Relations between Kenya and India are historical and they go way back before Kenya changed its independence. You will recall that Indians came to Kenya to help us build our first railway. India fought alongside Kenya and the struggle for independence. After independence some Indians went back to India and others stayed behind and acquired Kenya's citizenship. Others soon joined them and they have also played an important part in the economy of the country. 32,000 Indian workers were brought in to to build the railway. The construction workers were artisans physically building the railway. No machines built this railway and foot by foot these Indian construction workers built the railway. A large number went back so out of the 32,000, 6,000 workers out of the total at various moments remained in the in the colony and that settlement is now coming close to from 1896 it's over 130 years old. We are not wholly African but we are no longer wholly Indian either. In fact what we are is exactly the mix and we are now Asian Africans. Several thousand Indian lives were lost during the two world wars in East Africa. The Commonwealth's war grade site in Nairobi, Kenya stands testimony to the sacrifices made by Indians who died in East Africa far away from their homes. Shortly after independence India started offering scholarships to African students to study in India against the wishes of the then colonial rulers of Africa. The Indian idea was to build a class of educated Africans who could lead their countries into the future. Some of those who studied in India went on to lead their countries like President Mutharika of Malawi and current President of Mozambique Jacinto Newsy. I wanted to do my PhD in Kenya but we don't have a course in functional genomics so I decided to come to GNU. So when you meet with Africans whether from Kenya, whether from Nigeria, Eritrea and when you meet up it becomes your closest family around this place. The Government of India regularly invites civil servants and defence personnel from Africa to train at various Indian institutions of higher learning. The level of intellectual discourse is very high of highest quality again the complexity of the students. People come from all over the world not just the Indian officers, the Indian administrative service and officers from virtually every part of the world with different varied experiences. So during the discourse that comes out and that's quite interesting. Indian expertise in satellite technology has had a direct impact on Africa through the PAN African e-learning platform. This program run by the Government of India for the Organization of African Unity is currently operational in 48 countries across Africa. In this e-learning platform, a consortium of Indian universities and hospitals provide learning opportunities to students and doctors across Africa. Each year a number of 400 scholarships is offered by India to our country. India also is supporting us in the IT sector. It has supported the establishment of the India Africa, India Tanzania Center of Excellence for ICD but also we have the E-Education and E-Hearth nodes under the PAN Africa Network project which very much support our country in getting know-how from India in those sectors. What the e-learning program does is to increase our capacity to host more and more students that could not otherwise have hosted if it was not around. The e-learning platform is also used for continuing medical education where African doctors have an opportunity to learn from the knowledge of Indian doctors. All this from a platform that is completely free of cost to all of Africa. They are absolutely useful to Africa because they are giving you new ideas, new thinking, new methods of treatment that are being experimented or are being taught in different schools all over the world. So you are up to date with what's happening. The PAN African e-learning platform has already grown beyond India and has become a platform for teaching by Africans for Africa. It's been a great success. There were some targets fixed that this project will ensure that 10,000 people in Africa they are able to get degrees and postgraduate degrees from India and then there'll be so many semi-sessions and all that. So you know against the target of 10,000 we have been able to get 17,500 people plus so that itself is a great success. Indian African relations over the years have witnessed various changes moving from a period of high political, emotional and moral solidarity to a more material, concrete and developmental approach. This is the best of time to be in India where India is opening up to the world and engaging particularly with Africa. Mali has a strategic position in West Africa. We are centrally located where Mali can be the stepping stone for India to reach the multiple markets. The more than 1 billion consumers in West Africa can be available to Indian entrepreneurs, to Indian businessmen. Indian cinema has already discovered Africa, with Indian movies being filmed in almost all the countries of Africa. This visibility of Africa and the movies is helping to attract Indian tourists to Africa. The Indian tourists are overwhelmed by the spectacular scenaric and historic beauty of Africa and its wildlife, the Victoria Falls from Zambia, Lions from Serengeti, Tanzania and Bud architecture of Mali are some of the highly visited tourist attractions. Angola and India have shared close friendly relations of cooperation and solidarity since the pre-independence era. In 2007, the Indian-Angolan trade stood at less than 500 million USD, but has risen to over 7 billion USD in 2013. The trade is grown mainly in oil transactions and Angola provides about 25% of oil that India imports from Africa. Indian imports from African countries have grown significantly in the last couple of years. Today, India is importing crude oil, liquid natural gas, in organic chemicals, coal, fertilizers, phosphates, mineral ores, shelled cashews, gold and diamonds from Africa. Africa's energy resources are very significant for India. Energy cooperation is now one of the prominent areas of economic partnership between India and Africa. Indian public sector company BHEL commissioned a gas-powered power plant at Kosti in Sudan. Using the ample gas supplies of Sudan, the Kosti power plant generates 500 megabots of electrical power for use by the Sudanese people. A hydro-power plant built and commissioned by BHEL in Rwanda was inaugurated by honorable President Paul Kagami of Rwanda. In Botswana, Indian engineers from Rites helped to plan and execute an upgrade to several small airports, making them suitable for larger aircraft to land. The new facilities are helping Botswana to attract many more tourists by enabling more airlines and larger aircraft to use the airports. Egypt is India's largest trade partners in Africa, with a total of around 5 billion dollars annually. The new Suez Canal is another gift to the world and India's trade will benefit from it. We also promote the Egyptian business community, Prime Minister's Modi's initiative, Make an India, to reach a win-win situation. We already have Egyptian companies starting to explore that. Three of them are already on the ground and others are coming soon. Well, in 2010, after having expanded to all parts of India, South Asia, it was time for us to look for overseas opportunities. Very clearly, Africa was the best place to go at that time. Large continent, consuming continent, growing middle class, and it took the big leap of faith by making India's largest investment. Indian corporate entities are present all over Africa. Indeed, even on the streets of most of Africa, it is difficult to miss Indian brands. Indian technology and management skills have helped to set up gigantic fertilizer factories like Tifert, Indonesia. The ICS fertilizer factory in Senegal uses the ample phosphate deposits of the area to produce fertilizer. Another upcoming factory is the world's largest fertilizer plant in Port Hardcourt in Nigeria. Indian private sector expertise has helped to create the horticulture and floriculture exports in Ethiopia. Beginning with the Karathuri Group, the horticultural industries now have a fast growing economic segment of Ethiopia. In Kenya, Magdi Soda factory. Once the prime jewel of colonial Britain was in danger of closing down, endangering thousands of livelihoods. India's Tata Group bought the factory and not only saved jobs, but also helped to revive one of Africa's best known factories. The new area where Indian expertise is making its presence felt is in the agro-based industries of Africa. At the southern tip of Malawi is located the Nami Gomba estate that grows tea and macadamia nuts. The gigantic estate was recently taken over by Calcutta-based Kotari Group. Our group was looking for a global presence in the tea industry. So we have visited several countries in Africa to find out the right kind of opportunity so that we can invest properly. We are exporting to South Africa, Britain and of late we have also found a market in Germany. So we can say Europe, USA as well as South Africa. Recently, when the Ebola crisis hit West Africa, it was a moment of trauma for the populations of Ivory Coast, Guinea and Liberia. At such time of crisis, India reacts like a true friend. The government of India extended bilateral assistance in terms of materials and supplies worth 50,000 US dollars to Guinea and Liberia each to fight Ebola. In addition, India provided cash assistance of 500,000 US dollars to WHO as well as contribution of 10 million US dollars to UN Fund for Ebola, and additional 2 million US dollars for purchase of protective gear to tackle Ebola. It is not just Indian medicines but also high quality and affordable Indian Medicare that is currently attracting African patients to India in large numbers. I have a cardiology problem and I had the opportunity to get a cardiologist opinion. It was like 5 or 6 cardiologists working with me only which is not happening in Mozambique. All of them they say different things and then they get a decision and a conclusion to tell me what's wrong or what's okay with me. I think India seemed to have invested a lot in terms of the equipment, the latest equipment towards providing proper service in health in particular. India is a lot cheaper than going to the West. Earlier the most affluent used to go to the West some still do but by and large a lot of population comes to this part of the world because they get cheaper treatments, they get better outcomes, they get better more scientific treatments and therefore they are able to feel more secure in this part of the world. Recently the Indian Navy ships made new hydrographic maps of Dar es Salaam port. During the visit of our president to India, his Excellency Jaqayam Nishokikwete from 17th to 20th of June, we signed a formal MOU for cooperation in this particular area. So we expect more of this hydrographic service now to take place in future. During civil wars in some African countries, soldiers of the Indian Army have served under the blue caps and banners of UN peacekeeping forces. Indian soldiers have served to maintain peace under difficult conditions. The post has adopted these three children whose father is missing since the last war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Their mother also expired about two years back because of illness. We provide them assistance in terms of giving them daily meals and also the post has contributed about 4000 nakfas which have been deposited in the local bank here in Maymai. In Liberia, the Indian female peacekeepers did not just help in election and voting in Liberia. They also inspired a generation of young Liberian girls to become police women and take charge of their lives and countries. This was the first time any female peacekeepers had served under the banner of the United Nations. The contributions of the Indian diaspora in Africa are well known. They have all contributed to politics and industry, sports and business and continue to contribute to their homelands in Africa. In the past, people of African origin have held positions of authority in India. In 16th century, Malik Ambar of Ahmednagar Kingdom of Central India was of African origin. The heroine of India's first Tokyo movie with sound was Zubeda, a princess of African origin. Current dynamics amidst both region is the understanding that led to emerging areas of cooperation which include the economic field, energy sector, human resources development, capacity building and security and maritime cooperation. For us personally, Africa has been a delight to work in. The governments have been very, very supportive. The regulatory regime is very, very favorable. Lots of spectrum available and forward-looking regulatory policies. The new Indian government has created a strong foreign policy momentum. And this event will be a highlight of the diplomatic calendar both for India and Africa. India and the African countries are devising new parameters for an enhanced and enlarged relationship appropriate to their new role in a changing world. India-Africa maintained magnanimous relations and the same is anticipated for ages to come.