The Prime Minister declared the Five Day African development bank’s annual meeting open at an impressive ceremony in Gandhinagar, Gujarat today. He gave a clarion call for further strengthening of the cooperation between India and African countries. His speech at the meeting- http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=162032

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi with the foreign delegates at the 52nd African Development Bank Annual meetings, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on May 23, 2017.

The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jailtey in his opening remarks said that that this event would build on the success of the third summit of the India Africa Forum held in 2015, and will further cement the relationship between India and the countries of African continent.

The finance Minister said that as per IMF’s assessment in January 2017, India is expected to grow at 7.2 per cent and 7.7 per cent in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Shri Arun Jailtey said that Africa has also been doing well recently, on the economic frontier. He said that he has a conviction that the 21^st Century will not be Asia’s century alone; but will belong equally to both Asia and Africa. The African continent is transforming rapidly.  Amidst tough global scenario, African economies had grown by 2.2 percent in 2016 and are expected to grow by 3.4 percent in the current year, he said.

Earlier the President  of the African Development Bank Shri Akinwumi Adesina in his keynote address shared the Bank’s new transformation agenda encapsulated in the High 5s and underscored the need to support the Bank with the resources required to enable it accomplish its ambition programs for the good of the African continent.

The Presidents of Benin and Senegal, the Vice President of Cote D’Ivoire, the Secretary-General of the African Union, the Commissioner of the African Union Commission and the Chief Minister of Gujarat were among the dignitaries who graced the glittering ceremony

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KSP/