India keen to share industrial expertise with Africa: Nath

New Delhi, Sep 10 (UNI) India is keen to share its expertise with Africa in industry, trade and investment, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said here today.

Reiterating India's commitment to promote South-South cooperation at the inaugural session of the first International Conference on India-Africa Cooperation in Industry, Trade and Investment, he said India has as much to learn as to teach.

''India's trade in goods and services will be in the region of 500 billion dollars this year. Our foreign exchange reserves are 230 billion dollars. The size of our economy has crossed one trillion dollars. But all this has not come easily to us. India has achieved this by dint of hard work. We would like to continue to share our experience, our expertise, our technology with our brothers and sisters from Africa,'' the Minister added.

The five-day event, known as the Sanjay Lall Memorial Conference, has been organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in cooperation with the Central Government, under the banner of UNIDO Centre for South-South Industrial Cooperation (UCSSIC).

It is being attended by 42 delegates from 13 African countries such as Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Describing the conference a timely initiative, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary Ajay Shankar said it will help in promoting the South-South development process.

Mr J Vinanchiarachi, Principal Advisor to the UNIDO's director-general, described the late Professor Sanjaya Lall as a development-minded practical thinker, who contributed a lot to international organisations. His concepts on research and development and innovation-induced products as the drivers of global trade helped UNIDO in framing its industrial performance and capabilities index, he added.

UCSSIC's director Anthony de Sa said the Centre would develop projects on leather, cotton, auto components, hand tools, low-cost building materials, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and IT applications in industry.

UNI