CAIRO: India and Egypt should work together on development and infrastructure projects in the fast-growing African continent, the Indian envoy here said.
Ambassador Sanjay Bhattacharyya said Africa is of “greatest promise” as the continent has a fast rate of growth.
India has focused on capacity building as it believes “the strongest potential that any country or continent can have are its people”, he said during a discussion on ‘The leap forward: The evolving role of India and Egypt in Africa’.
The roundtable was organised by The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in Cairo yesterday. It discussed the future plans for cooperation between India, Egypt and Africa.
Mohamed Hegazy, Egypt’s former assistant foreign minister for African affairs, said the two countries can “definitely add” to the African developmental and infra-structure plan.
During the discussion, prominent journalist Gamal Nkrumah highlighted the historical and cultural links between India and the African continent.
“There is no African country where Bollywood films are not known and popular there regardless of cultural differences. In fact, India is associated more closely with certain countries in Africa such as South Africa, which has a large Indian community, and also with east Africa generally,” he said.
“When I compare India with China one of the great strengths that India has and advance over China is the linguistic fact; the fact that English is an official language in India and it is an official language of many African countries also,” he explained. (AGENCIES)
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