India has set a target of $40 billion trade turnover with the West African nations from the present $20 billion.
“We are not only looking at enhancing trade with the West African countries but also looking at co-operation in gas and oil sectors. We are looking at Africa as a whole for taking our partnership to a new level through various gestures in different fields,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told journalists.
Mr. Sharma, along with Ghana’s Trade and Industry Minister Hanna Tetteh, inaugurated the “India Show” here on Monday. The show has been organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnership with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Mr. Sharma is leading a 200-strong business delegation to Ghana as part of the India’s thrust to enhance economic partnership in the region.
Mr. Sharma said that India had also set a target of $90 billion trade with Africa by 2015. The total trade between India and Africa was around $50 billion till last year. India and African financial institutions have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote finance, trade and investment flows. The bilateral trade between India and Ghana is expected to touch $1 billion by 2013.
During 2010-11, the bilateral trade stood at $818 million. Mr. Sharma said that India proposed to set up a $1.2 billion urea fertilizer plant in Ghana. Both the countries have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up the plant in a joint venture. The plant is expected to produce one million tones of urea annually when commissioned. The JV will be between Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. The plant is expected to take three years for completion after the allocation of gas by the Ghana Government. It is located in the Nynkrome region of Shama district in Ghana.
Ms. Hanna Tetteh said as the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation was laying the pipeline to carry the gas, it was difficult to fix the price without taking into consideration the overall cost structure. “We are committed to establishing this urea plant as soon as possible. An Indian technical team has already visited Ghana and identified the site for the plant. We are going to seal the issue as soon as the gas price matter is sorted out,” she said.
