Italian companies in the infrastructure sector operating in Africa have a new competitor to watch out for. After China – which for some years now has been offering bridges, roads and stadiums in exchange for access to energy resources – now it's India's turn. The confirmation that New Delhi is beginning to take the African continent seriously comes from the six-day trip that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began today in Ethiopia (on the occasion of the India-Africa summit) and then continued in Tanzania. One of the pillars of the cooperation, in addition to the opening of credit lines for 600 million dollars, will be the development of infrastructures and the transfer of expertise, above all in the engineering sector. In exchange, New Delhi is asking for political support from the UN to win a permanent seat and greater access to the huge energy resources (a process already started in Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan) and mineral resources of the African continent. However, there is a long way to go to fill the gap with Beijing: in 2006 Chinese investments in Ghana were higher than those made by India in the entire African continent. With such a delay and given New Delhi's growing thirst for energy (which today imports 70% of its needs with the prospect of seeing its dependence on foreign countries grow further in the future), it is safe to bet that Singh will not show up at empty hands.
http://www.livemint.com/2011/05/22233946/Manmohan-aims-to-rescript-Indi.html?h=B
