India
is an ideal country to those which are poor and under developed.
India's present position after a long struggle is is viewed
with awe. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced zero
excise duty to the items imported from Africa and other under
developed countries. During the India-Africa Summit, Dr. Singh
said this would help open market to all countries of African
continent. The Prime Minister's announcement should be welcomed.
Because India itself has gone through such struggle which
the countries in African continent is facing now. The Prime
Minister said India will welcome items from the 50 under developed
countries without any excise duty. He said 94 per cent of
the items imported from these country will be excise duty
free. Cotton, Cocoa, Alluminium, Copper, cashew nut, sugar,
readymade dresses, and non-industrial diamonds imported from
African countries will be benefited. During the next 5-6 years
India will help the African countries in running projects
to the tune of Rs 50 crore dollars. The Prime Minister said
India would like to help in the field of science, information
technology, professional education, research and development
in alternative sources of energy and development of agriculture
in these countries. On the issue of reduction of greenhouse
gas, India and Africa sought equitable and fair burden-sharing
to meet the challenges that will particularly be severe on
developing countries. African countries are homes to a large
number of people of Indian origin. The strengthening of bilateral
and trade ties between India and African countries would go
a long way in safeguarding their interests too. The two sides
also called for a closer look at the Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR) regime to ensure cost-effective transfer of appropriate
and advanced clean technologies to developing countries. Declaring
their commitment to multilateralism, India and Africa underlined
the need for urgent and comprehensive reform of the United
Nations to enable it to deal more effectively with the challenges
facing the world.
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