Shri Dinkar Khullar, Secretary (West), will chair the third meeting between India and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of Africa in New Delhi during 20-21 August 2014.
Africa has a number of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and eight of them are recognized by the African Union. These include the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CENSAD) and the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA).
The first and second India-RECs meetings were held in New Delhi in November 2010 and November 2011 respectively. The meeting will be attended by the Secretaries General/President of the RECs along with the senior officials.
The visiting REC delegations will call on the Minister of State for External Affairs, General Dr. V.K. Singh (Retd.) on 20th August 2014
The representatives of the RECs will also meet with several Departments/Ministries/Agencies of the Government of India along with some civil society organizations engaged in implementing jointly agreed programme and projects. These include Department of Agriculture Research and Educations (DARE); Barefoot College, Tilonia; The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) etc. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will organize an interactive session for the RECs with Indian business leaders on the evening 20th August 2014.
There will also be meetings with the Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) and the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) on 21st August 2014.
Africa’s RECs have worked towards harmonization of standards and rules as well as towards creation of common markets and this has an important bearing on the development of India’s trade and investment with African countries. RECs are also keen to enhance cooperation with India in the areas of capacity building, human resource development, food and agriculture processing. The 3rd India-RECs Meeting will provide another platform to strengthen India-Africa ties.
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