India offers Cape Verde technical cooperation, official development assistance

India today expressed its desire to expand and strengthen its relations with Cape Verde in various fields and has offered the sub-Saharan African country its continued support through technical cooperation and official development assistance in its quest for speedier development.

At a meeting with visiting Cape Verdean Foreign Minister Jose Brito here, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna suggested that the two sides identify specific areas of cooperation in this regard.

Mr Brito is on an official four-day visit to India from November. This is the first official bilateral visit at the level of Foreign Minister from either country.

During their meeting, the two ministers reviewed bilateral relations between their countries and exchanged views on various international and regional issues of mutual interest.

Earlier, Mr Brito held talks with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor during which the two sides outlined ways and means of expanding and strengthening the bilateral economic relations between the two countries.

Mr Brito and Dr Tharoor signed a protocol on Foreign Office Consultations to promote regular interaction between senior officials of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries, a joint statement issued after the talks said.

The former Portuguese colony offered its support for India's candidature for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council for the term 2011-12, for which elections will be held next October. The two sides also agreed to cooperate and synchronise their efforts within the UN framework for adopting effective measures to combat the scourge of international terrorism.

Mr Brito and Dr Tharoor also co-chaired a business meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Mr Brito invited Indian entrepreneurs and business leaders to invest in Cape Verde in different sectors, especially infrastructure, information technology, health, education and tourism.

India has offered a concessional Line of Credit of $ 5 million to Cape Verde for setting up of a Technological Park and a grant of Rs 10 million in the education sector. India also offered to set up an Information and Communication Technology Centre of Excellence in Cape Verde on grant basis, the statement added.

NNN