This comes in addition to hefty lines of credit (LoC) to push investments and duty-free access to exports from Africa to improve bilateral trade.

African countries, too, have come to realise this. For instance, Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete highlighted this aspect of the India-China rivalry, particularly with reference to his country.

“China helped build a 200-bed hospital in Dar-es-Salaam and India is helping train our doctors in specialised areas of open-heart surgery and renal diseases,” Kikwete said at a joint press conference with Singh today.

Last year, 29 Tanzanian doctors trained in India. “This is not enough. We want many more slots,” Kikwete said.

Even as New Delhi is helping build capacities in African countries, the private sector is coming out of its shell to put their money in brick and mortar and large-scale organised farming, encouraged by some African countries’ offer to set aside land for such investments.

Prathap Reddy-chaired Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd has decided to invest $150 million to set up a super-speciality hospital in Dar-es-Salaam. Kikwete offered support to Apollo for building four more such hospitals.

“We will focus on areas such as agriculture, small and medium industries, healthcare and human resource development. We support the President’s national agriculture initiative. We will provide a new line of credit of $180 million for water supply projects in Dar-es-Salaam,” Singh said.

In Addis Ababa, Singh had committed a $5-billion LoC to Africa over the next three years in addition to another $700 million specifically for improving education facilities and skill sets.

Besides healthcare and agriculture, Singh said, India is ready to provide all the help it can to enable Tanzania create a pool of world-class IT professionals.

“If we can produce a steady stream of highly trained scientists, technologists and engineers, our cooperation would be worthwhile and we would be putting our money to good use,” he said inaugurating a Communication and Information Technology Centre of Excellence in the capital city.

“Maritime trade and people-to-people exchanges have drawn us closer. Today, we seek to build a modern and dynamic partnership on the strength of these traditional bonds,” Singh had said earlier after the bilateral meeting with Kikwete. He also announced India’s readiness to cooperate with Tanzania in the area of space technology and applications.

Kikwete said that since a bulk of Tanzania’s population lives in rural areas, they are unable to enjoy the benefits of the country’s fast economic growth.

“The economy grew 7 per cent last year, but people in rural areas are asking: is the economy growing?” he said. While telecom has growth 20 per cent, industry 10 per cent and tourism 40 per cent, the farm sector posted a sluggish growth rate of 4.3 per cent. “We need farm equipment, fertilisers, high yield seed varieties and better irrigation equipment,” he said.

He offered Indian companies its abundant natural resources — natural gas and phosphate — to set up fertiliser plants. “We have these resources in plenty.”

Kikwete also wanted the private sector to set up assembly plans to manufacture irrigation equipment. The two countries also signed a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) to create a more hospitable investment environment.

(Indian Express)