A day before its second summit with African leaders, India on Monday accused the West of trying to conjure up an arena of rivalry between New Delhi and Beijing in Africa and sought to distinguish its development-centric approach revolving around trade, training and capacity building.
“Africa has tremendous economic potential. It’s a continent on the move. For us, it’s an opportunity and for the rest of the world also it is an opportunity,” Indian officials accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Ethiopia said on Monday.
“There is enough space for India and what it is good at — skill development, training, capacity building,” the officials said while rejecting any neo-scramble for Africa.
Dr Manmohan Singh touched down in the Ethiopian capital to a red carpet welcome for the second India-Africa Forum Summit that begins on Tuesday. —IANS