Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday leaves on a six-day visit to Ethiopia and Tanzania to inject a fresh impetus in India’s strategic ties with African countries and discuss ways to effectively combat the twin threats of terrorism and piracy.
Dr Singh, who will first head for Addis Ababa, the seat of the African Union, for the Second Africa-India Forum Summit to be attended by 15 African countries, is also expected to make a strong pitch for UN reforms.
Like India, Africa too feels the adverse impact of terrorism and piracy is a phenomenon that affects both Africa and India and the leaders will discuss “ways and means of reducing and eliminating it,” Vivek Katju, secretary (West) in the external affairs minister,
said ahead of the visit.
New Delhi has voiced its serious concerns over the threats posed by Somali pirates since about 11 per cent of seafarers engaged by international shipping companies are Indian nationals, some of whom have been taken hostage.
There have been over 200 attacks, including about 70 successful hijackings and ransoms believed to exceed $50 million have been paid to the pirates for securing the release of hostages and ships.
Dr Singh will co-chair the summit with the President of Equatorial Guinea, Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in his current capacity as chairperson of the AU.
The leaders will discuss significant aspects of the India-Africa partnership with the objective of enhancing its and widening its ambit for mutual benefit.
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US, India set for homeland security talks
AGE Correspondent
New Delhi
May 22: Home minister P. Chidambaram and US secretary of homeland security Janet Napolitano will jointly launch the US-India homeland security dialogue here next week.
The US-India homeland security dialogue is all set to discuss security situation in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This will be the first meeting of the homeland security dialogue which will seek to coordinate counter-terrorism and law enforcement cooperation.
According to sources, activities of various extremist groups and security issues concerning both the countries are expected to be discussed during the day-long meeting on May 27.