India Invites Pohamba to Summit

Fifi Rhodes

12 May 2011

Windhoek — A Special Envoy of India’s Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, arrived in the country on Monday to deliver a special invitation to President Hifikepunye Pohamba to attend the second India-Africa Forum Summit, which is scheduled for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia later this month.

The summit will run from May 20 to 27.

Leader of the Indian delegation, Preneet Kaur, said during the summit Namibia could learn a lot, especially with the current flooding and other frequent natural disasters that India has to face almost every year. She said Namibia and other African countries would further invigorate the long-standing India-Africa partnership.

She said India could help improve the quality of infrastructural development in Africa. This, she said, could speed up the transportation of goods and enhance trade between landlocked African countries.

Existing areas of co-operation between Namibia and India include information technology (IT), agriculture and trade.

A meeting of foreign ministers, trade seminars and an India-Africa Media Symposium will precede the summit.

The summit will focus on five key areas, being economic development; capacity building in terms of human resources; gender mainstreaming; Diaspora resources; and non-traditional security.

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