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President Mugabe bids farewell to Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko prior to his departure for India last night, while ministers Kembo Mohadi and Ignatius Chombo look on. — (Picture by Munyaradzi Chamalimba)

Cletus Mushanawani Mutare Bureau
President Mugabe, who is also the African Union chairman, yesterday left for the third India-Africa Forum Summit, which has been described as India’s largest diplomatic event since the Commonwealth and Non-Aligned Movement summits of 1983. Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko is the Acting President.

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President Mugabe was accompanied by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni and other senior Government officials.

He was seen off at Harare International Airport by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangangwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo, State Security Minister Kembo Mohadi, Information, Media and Broadcasting Service s Minister Christopher Mushohwe and service chiefs.

President Mugabe was personally invited to the summit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special envoy, Mr Rajyavardhan Rathore, who is also India’s Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, during his visit to Harare on August 27.

In return, President Mugabe also invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Zimbabwe.

The four-day India-Africa Summit, which is expected to attract more than 1 000 delegates and will end on Thursday. It was supposed to be held in December last year, but was shelved due to the deadly Ebola virus, which affected some West African nations, leaving thousands of people dead.

To accommodate the big gathering, the Indira Gandhi Stadium was converted into a makeshift convention centre.

According to the summit’s official website, it will enable “consultations between the heads of government of 54 nations across Africa and the Indian government to give a new thrust to our age-old partnership.”

Prime Minister Modi in his recent Twitter posts said the summit would be one of the biggest gatherings of African countries outside Africa and was a reflection of the desire on both sides to engage more intensively.

“India is proud to host the 3rd India Africa Forum Summit from October 26 to 29 2015 in New Delhi,” he said. “This time, the level of engagement has been scaled up significantly and we have invited leaders from all 54 African countries and the African Union.

“India and Africa have a historic relationship based on mutual respect, trust and solidarity. In recent times, our relationship has witnessed progress and has grown into a mutually beneficial partnership.”

Prime Minister Modi said Indian investments in Africa, which stand at $30 billion, had contributed immensely to job creation.

He said that in the run-up to the summit, many side events were being organised.

Trade ministers of India and African countries, accompanied by business delegations, have since met on October 23.

A senior officers’ meeting was held yesterday, while a foreign ministers’ meeting is scheduled for today.

A business exhibition was organised at the Summit venue on October 27 and 29 by leading Indian chambers of commerce and industry. More than 16 000 schools participated in various competitions organised by the Central Board of Secondary Education on themes related to India-Africa cooperation.

India’s trade with Africa now stands at $70 billion, with the Asian country having provided lines of credit of $7.4 billion so far, which is being utilised in 137 projects across 41 countries.

The first India-Africa Forum Summit was held in New Delhi in 2008 and Ethiopia hosted the second summit in 2011.