Union Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid,being welcomed by PHD Chamber President Suman Jyoti Khaitan at the conference on `AFRICA : A Land of Opportunities` organised by PHD Chamber in New Delhi on Nov.20, 2013.

African Heads of Mission taking turns to address delegates at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 20 November 2013

Addressing the conference, the Minister of External Affairs said, “Indian believes in partnership with Africa.” He informed the conference that India was propagating a model which was based on the belief that in doing business with Africa, “India should get rooted in the soil, give back to the soil and become part of the landscape of Africa." The Minister said "The model of do your business and leave, is not a partnership model, but the one where we sit down and conceive what we can do together.” The Minister also said India was looking for greater engagement with West Africa to balance its historically robust ties with the eastern and southern parts of the continent.
In his remarks, Mr. D.S. Dhesi Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry noted that Bilateral trade between India and Africa had seen a major hike, especially during 2008-12 and was projected to touch $100 billion, by 2016. He further noted that exports from Africa to India were increasing at an average rate of 45% annually, after India introduced the Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme (DFTP) in August 2008 for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Under the DFTP scheme, India grants duty-free access on 85% of tariff lines (products) and preferential access on 9% of tariff lines, covering 92.5% of global exports of all LDCs. Mr. Dhesi said 33 African countries were benefiting from the scheme, and the trade between India and Africa was on the rise.

Mr. McDonald Mizati, First Secretary (Political) and Ms Bertha Msusa First Secretary (Tourism) manning the Malawi stand at the trade and tourism exhibition held at PHD Chamber of Commerce House in New Delhi on 20 November 2013