NEW DELHI: Development assistance continues to play an important role in India’s engagement with not just the neighbourhood but also Africa.
While a total of 37 lines of credit (LoCs) worth $14.27 billion covering 162 projects have been extended to five countries in the neighbourhood, another 222 LoCs worth $14.07 billion covering as many as 357 projects have been extended to 42 countries in Africa.
According to the government, these projects are spread across sectors like roads, railways, power, ports and shipping, telecom, health, education and aviation.
Talking about relations with Africa earlier this month, foreign minister S Jaishankar had said that the resource-rich continent plays a particularly important role in India’s foreign policy outlook and that this is reflected in India’s expanding diplomatic footprint that now covers 43 African countries.
While India has so far completed 197 projects in Africa, 65 more are currently being implemented and 81 are at the pre-execution stage.
In addition, according to the government, India has granted assistance worth $700 million to African countries.
India’s 37 LoCs in the neighbourhood have been extended to five countries — Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, according to information shared by the government in Parliament.
In the neighbourhood, under LoC assistance, India is implementing the maximum number of projects in Nepal (27). This is followed by 15 in Myanmar, 12 in Bangladesh, 11 in Sri Lanka and three in the Maldives.
Apart from LoCs, grant-in-aid projects are also being executed in partner countries in the neighbourhood, in areas such as railway links, roads and bridges, waterways, border-related infrastructure, capacity building,
●Times of India
