The
Vice President of India, Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that the East African
Community is taking shape as an Economical and Political Community and many of
our programmes and initiatives in the region will no longer be purely bilateral
but will have to be adapted to work for the entire community. He was addressing
the Media Onboard Air India One aircraft while returning back from a 5-day
visit to Rwanda and Uganda, today. The Minister of State for Social Justice
& Empowerment, Shri Vijay Sampla and other dignitaries were present on the
occasion.
The
Vice President said that there had been a gap in high level visits to both of
these countries and this visit filled that gap. He further said that the level
of discussions in both the countries were extremely warm and cordial, adding
that his meetings went beyond pro-forma. The meeting with the President of
Uganda was substantive and productive and reinforced our long standing ties, he
said.
The
Vice President said that India's approach, as long standing friends, has been
to give our African partners assistance in their developmental programmes in
those areas where they want and it is them to convert that into specific
requests. He further said that the broader issues of India's approach to
cooperation with African Countries are well known and well appreciated. One
issue of concern to both India and Africa is scourge of terrorism and there
was a total meeting of minds in condemning terrorism in all shapes and forms,
he added.
The
Vice President said that the visit to Kigali Genocide Memorial was a tribute to
the determination of the people of Rwanda and that he was glad that they were
able to overcome that heart-rending disaster and re-build their country.
Reacting
to a question on trade imbalance, the Vice President said that there was trade
imbalance with Uganda as India exports a lot of things to them and their export
basket to India was presently limited. He further said that there are two ways
to address this; one by increasing the products in their export basket and two;
instead of exporting finished goods from India to Uganda, some Indian
manufacturers could set up their manufacturing units in Uganda.
Responding
to a question on Parliamentary cooperation with both countries, the Vice
President said that there is a need for having more Parliamentary interactions.
He further said that a Parliamentary visit from Rwanda and Uganda will expose
them to what is happening in India and witness our developmental programmes.
Reacting
to a question on India sustaining engagements with Africa, the Vice President
said that it was a part of Government's policy and that the India-Africa summit
and various other initiatives make this evident. He further said that the sheer
size of Africa with 54 countries and one billion people, create enormous
chances of cooperation and of sharing our experience and skills which are
useful to them. Africa also has enormous resources which can be useful as
India's development requirements come up, he added.
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KSD/BK