New Delhi: India has so far offered 308 lines of credit (LOC), worth about $32.02 billion, to various partners, including Sudan, Fiji, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal, the Ministry of External Affairs informed Parliament Thursday.
The Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs, V. Muraleedharan, said that these funds have supported more than 600 projects in sectors such as infrastructure, power, connectivity and health. The minister was responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha by BJP MPs Iranna Kadadi, Anil Jain and Satish Chandra Dubey.
Giving a breakup of the LOC amount, Muraleedharan said about $17.06 billion has gone to countries in Asia, $12.15 billion to those in Africa and $2.81 billion to countries elsewhere. Moreover, as part of its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, India has also set up grant assistance projects with countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, he said.
The minister also highlighted India’s capacity-building efforts worldwide, saying, “India offers capacity-building assistance under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) to partners in the Global South. Around 160 countries benefit from these scholarships every year. More than 14,000 training slots are available each year for both civilian and defence courses.”
The ITEC is a bilateral assistance programme, established in 1964, to meet the needs of developing countries, such as Afghanistan, Lithuania, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and others, through technological cooperation.
Under the programme this year, India announced the Sagar Amrut scholarship for Pacific Island Countries at the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit in May. It is also part of the QUAD Infrastructure Fellowship, a joint initiative by the governments of the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan.
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Grant assistance for infrastructure building
India has also supported partner countries like Bangladesh, in projects like the construction of the second Bhairab and Titas rail bridges with approach rail lines, said Muraleedharan.
The country has also helped in the development of the sugar industry in Ethiopia and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Bank for Investment and Development with the electricity grid interconnection between Mali and the Ivory Coast. It has also helped set up a combined-cycle power plant in Sudan, among others, the MoS informed the Parliament.
Some of India’s grant assistance projects include the India-Nepal cross-border Jaynagar-Bardibas rail link, restoration of the Thiruketheeswaram temple in Sri Lanka’s Mannar, construction of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) between Siliguri and Parbatipur, construction of the Afghan-India Friendship Dam (Salma Dam), power substations at Doshi and Charikar in Afghanistan, among others.
In addition to these funding assistance initiatives, India has also established the e-VidyaBharati and e-ArogyaBharati Network Project (e-VBAB) to share tele-education and telemedicine services in Africa, the minister told Parliament.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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