Background:

People of Indian origin have been serving in the East African countries particularly in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda. Their input has been usefully utilized in the fields of Education, Small Industries, Retailing and some industrial development areas such as Textiles. The region consisting of Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda offers a great deal of scope of collaboration and cooperation between these countries and India. India has emerged, in the 21st century, more developed in various fields such as Pharmaceuticals, ICT, Education, Health Services, Travel & Tourism, Infrastructure including Transportation. It is, therefore, proper that due emphasis should be laid on these sectors for further development of the East African region.

The trade between India and the East African countries is nearly 1.77% of total exports and 0.10% of total imports of India. Kenya is the largest trade partner with total exports and imports to India amounting to US$ 1,362.10 million & US$ 82.17 million respectively during 2008-09, while it is least in case of Burundi (total trade US$ 14.77 million). The region can prove to be a valuable source for importing products like petroleum, metallurgical goods, raw cotton, vegetables and preparations, fruit, chemicals, precious stones, textile yarn, gold, nickel, non-metallic mineral manufactures and Ferro-alloys. In turn, India can export machinery and transport equipment, paper and wood products, petroleum products, textiles, iron and steel, plastic and linoleum products, chemicals and pharmaceutical products, rubber manufactured products, agro products etc as potential items.

India with its proven experience in science and technology (S&T), IT (Information Technology) and SMEs (Small & Medium Sector) can help address East Africa’s developmental challenges. With a population of nearly 210 million and a combined GDP (PPP) of approximately US$ 240 billion, it does offer good scope for working out Joint Ventures and Technology Transfer between India and the East African region. Active cooperation between India and the East African region along with assistance of the African Union, International Agencies, African Development Bank, UNDP and other organizations having spot-light on the African continent will go a long way in ushering a new era of development and prosperity.


Advisory Committee :

Congress Chairman: Mr. J. C. Sharma, former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs; Congress Vice Chairman : Mr. R.C. Nirula, Managing Director, Century Twenty One Pvt. Ltd.; Congress Convenor: Dr. Jagjit Singh, Founder President and Senior Professor of IMM; Members : Mr. Gurjit Singh, Joint Secretary (E & SA), Ministry of External Affairs; Mr. Jasbir Singh Bajaj, IAS, Resident Commissioner & OSD to H.E. the Governor of Tamil Nadu; Mr. N.D. Rajpal, Resident Director, Alembic Ltd.; Shri S.P. Singh, Resident Commissioner, Govt. of Mizoram; Shri M.G.V.K. Bhanu, Resident Commissioner, Government of Assam; Mr. J.P. Mamgain, IRS, Investment Commissioner, Govt. of Uttarakhand; H.E. Mrs. Nimisha J. Madhvani, High Commissioner of Uganda; H.E. Mr. Eugene Ngoga, Charge d'Affaires, A.I., Rwanda High Commission; Mr. Aden Mohamed Dileita, Charge d'Affaires a.i., Embassy of the Republic of Djibouti; Mr. E.M. Barine, Deputy Head of Mission, High Commission of the Republic of Kenya; Mr. Amon M.A. Mwamanenge, Deputy High Commissioner, Tanzania High Commission; Mr. Maniratanga Zephyrin, First Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic of Burundi; Mr. Matasebia Tadesse, Minister Counselor (I), Political & Public Diplomacy Ethiopian Embassy; Mr. Harish Narula, President (Corporate), Lupin Limited; Dr. S.K. Mohanty, Senior Fellow, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS); Mr. S.K. Chowdhary, President, Indian Coal Forum; Mr. A.P. Jain, CA, A. Pershad & Co. Chartered Accountants; Mr. Satnam Singh Arora, Executive Officer, Builders' Association of India; Ms. Arunabha Pradhan, Sr. Manager & Head, Business Dev.(AS&ES), National Research Development Corporation; Shri Vimal Wakhlu, Director (Technical), Telecommunications Consultants (I) Ltd.; Mr. N.K. Goyal, President, CMAI Association of India; Mr. Man Mohan Singh, Chief Executive, MMS Associates; Ambassador Rajiv Bhatia; Mr. A.K. Mittal, Chief General Manager, National Small Industries Corpn. Ltd.; Mr. D.R. Kaarthikeyan, Advisor-Law-Human Rights and Responsibilities, Foundation for Peace, Harmony and Good Governance; Shri P.K. Uppal, General Manager(Incharge), BHEL; Shri Pradeep Chaturvedi, FIE, The Institution of Engineers