Ethiopia
(Source : Embassy of India, Addis Ababa)
According to the National Bank of Ethiopia annual report, India’s total trade with Ethiopia stood at US$1.271 billion in 2017-18, out of which India’s exports to Ethiopia were US$1.224 billion and imports were US$47.45 million. India is the third most important source of imports for Ethiopia, contributing 10.1% of all of Ethiopia’s imports next to China and Kuwait. India contributed 1.6% of Ethiopia’s export to the world. Among India’s top exports to Ethiopia exports from India consisted mainly of primary and semi-finished iron and steel products, drugs and pharmaceuticals, machinery and instruments, manufactures of metal, etc. Major imports by India from Ethiopia were: semi-precious stones, pulses, leather, oil seeds and vegetables & seeds.
National Electrification Program (NEP 2.0) : Ethiopia is looking for US$ 6 billion in financing to bring universal electric access to the entire population in the coming six years. With the recently launched second phase of the National Electrification Program, the government has set its eyes on completing universal electricity access by 2025. The Program was launched at the East Africa Energy & Infrastructure Summit on March 27, 2019, at the Sheraton Addis Hotel. The event was attended by Seleshi Bekele (PhD), Minister of Water, Irrigation & Electricity, and Shifarew Telila, CEO of Ethiopian Electric Utility. A total of 3.2 billion dollars will be allocated for on-grid infrastructure, and over half of the financing is expected to be pooled from development partners and loans. The National Electrification Program focuses on integrated grid and off-grid electricity access. It provides an implementation framework for 35% of off-grid access by 2025. The Program was originally launched in 2017. The World Bank provided loans and grants worth 375 million dollars for the first phase of the program. By the end of the second edition of the Growth & Transformation Plan, Ethiopia had planned to increase its electric power generation capability to 17,000MW from its current capacity of 4,300MW. Hydropower plants produce the largest share of electricity in the country currently, and studies show the nation could produce 45,000MW of power from this source, although less than nine percent has been utilized so far. By 2025, the Program plans to create 8.2 million new grid connections and bring power to six million new households through off-grid solar systems.
Egypt
(Source Embassy of India, Cairo)
52nd Session of the Economic Commission for Africa convened : 52nd Session of the Economic Commission for Africa and the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, convened on 25th march in Morocco`s Marrakesh. The session was held under the theme "Fiscal policy, trade and the private sector in the digital era: A Strategy for Africa", during which including Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait, African ministers of finance, planning and economic development have called for diversifying the sources of government revenues, to ensure a greater volume of investments in the economic and social sectors, digitizing financial transactions to boost effectiveness of fiscal policies, provide the funds necessary for development, facilitate privately owned trade and investments and create job opportunities and establishing and developing digital mechanisms that help streamline the process of tax collection.
As a part of states promotion activities, Mission undertook the month long publicity campaign of promoting tourism for the states of Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu on 14 March 2019 at Al Ahly Sporting Club, one of the prominent clubs in Cairo.
A 3-member delegation led by Mr. Deepak Bagla (DB), MD and CEO, Invest India visited Egypt from 9-15 March 2019 to attract investments from Egypt, showcase the various investment opportunities in India, explore the potential of joint ventures with Egyptian investors and brief them on the services offered by Invest India to facilitate their investments into India. During the visit, India-Egypt Business Seminars were organized at Cairo and Alexandria on March 11 & 12, 2019 respectively by the Embassy of India as a part of annual cultural festival ‘India by the Nile’. Apart from addressing the seminars, the delegation also met the Egyptian investors and entities including Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI), Petrojet, Oriental Weavers, Egyptian Investors Union, Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), General Authority for Investment (GAFI) and India Business Forum (IBF).
The first meeting of Joint Working Group on Agriculture, Plant Quarantine and Animal Quarantine was held in New Delhi on 12th March 2019, on the sidelines of the 4th India-Egypt Joint Trade Committee. Both sides discussed the various bilateral trade issues related to animal and plant quarantine as well as possibilities for collaboration in agricultural commodities.
The fourth India Egypt Joint Trade Committee was held in New Delhi on 13th March 2019. The Indian Delegation was headed by H.E. Mr. Keshav Chandra, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce and the Egyptian Delegation was headed by Mr. Ahmed Anter, First Undersecretary- Head of Egyptian Commercial Service (ECS). Both sides reviewed the bilateral trade and covered a wide gamut of issues related to bilateral trade and investment including India- Egypt Joint Business Council, MoUs, registration of Indian products and customs related issues.
Peru
(Source : Embassy of India, Lima)
Significant Trends
Year wise, trade between India and Peru has grown around 21.49% with an amount of USD$ 3.372 billion . On respect to Peruvian exports, the growth was of 26.46% (USD$ 2.471 billion), and regarding imports from India, the growth was of 9.67% (USD$ 901.933 million).