At a time when the benefits of globalisation may seem to be diminishing, the cooperation between India and Africa will act as a silver-lining, according to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The current global socio-political scenario gives mixed feelings even as the emerging economies of Africa and India provide optimism, he said.

In an apparent reference to the protectionist policies of the US and Britain, Jaitley said: “There is an increasing possibility of disruptions in the global economy due to inward looking policies of some advanced countries. This has the danger of frittering away much of the gains from globalisation."

Africa, which produces only 10 per cent of the global food output, has 65 per cent of the global uncultivated arable land mass. “We (India) have to support 17 per cent of the world population with 2 per cent of the world landmass. But we have met this challenge successfully, and there is a significant scope for the agricultural sector in Africa to benefit from the Indian experience,” said Jaitley.

Private and public sector enterprises find good potential in infrastructure and agriculture technology in the African region. Central PSE and EPC player under the Ministry of Water Resources, WAPCOS Ltd, has on-going projects in 41 countries, of which 27 are in Africa, he said.

“In Africa, we are working in some of the most difficult areas of Mali, Chad, Senegal, Niger, Nigeria, which are French speaking regions,” RK Gupta, CMD of WAPCOS, told BusinessLine . “The opportunity is immense because there is a lot of funding available for infrastructure projects. But bankable projects are not available. We try to fill this gap by offering our services to banks and for lines of credit for the Indian government.”

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