Mr Sugandh Rajaram, the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana has stated that India’s relations with Africa was not to exploit and take control of its rich resources.

India, he re-assured, was rather committed to supporting African Countries to develop their capacities to utilize and exploit their rich resources to address their developmental needs.

To buttress his point, he enumerated India’s investment in Ghana which had so far reached $1.7 billion in more than 700 projects covering sectors such as construction, manufacturing, education, energy, rural development, health, trading, pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, services and tourism among others.

The High Commissioner was interacting with the media Sunday evening, prior to his five -day working tour to the Central Region.

On Agriculture, he said India was injecting about $150 million to increase agricultural productivity in Ghana.

“India does not have an eye on Africa’s resources. India and Africa share similar problems so we want to help and support African countries to build capacities in terms of human resource, entrepreneurship, rural development and technology transfer”.

According to him, India and Africa had similar challenges and therefore similar expertise, technology and approaches must be shared to solve for the two to learn from each other to develop.

Zooming in on India-Ghana relations, Mr Rajaram said it dated back to Independence and India was instrumental in all aspect of Ghana’s developmental process.

He further assured of India’s commitment to provide capacity building focusing on the development needs of Ghana and explained that his visit was to strengthen the traditionally warm and friendly relations between the two Countries and explore the possibility of fortifying the economic and commercial relations, especially at the regional level.

“Our commitment is for building the capacity of Ghana focusing on the developmental needs. So we have been consistent in giving the credit and executing projects in all sectors”, he said.
Mr Rajaram stressed the need for Ghana to learn from India’s experience and focus on its developmental needs to raise the standards of all sections of the society.

As part of his visit, the High Commissioner is expected to hold meetings with various Government authorities in the Region to highlight economic policy initiatives in India and opportunities to strengthen economic relations between the two Countries, in the Central Region.

He will also pay courtesy calls on the Central Regional Minister, Mr Kwamena Duncan and the Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area, Osabarimba Kwesi Atta II.

Mr Rajaram is expected to visit the Elmina Fish Processing Plant, which was established under concessional loan from India and meet the Cape Coast Chamber of Commerce and Industry to explore possible areas of investment for Indian investors.