India and Africa have set a target to take trade to USD 70 billion by 2015 on the back of increasing economic engagement between the two sides.

Currently, trade between India and Africa stands at about USD 45 billion.

“We have set for ourself a target of USD 70 billion by 2015 and I am sure that we will be able to achieve it,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said here at CII’s India-Africa conclave.

He said huge potential is available for businessmen of both India and Africa.

In the presence of the minister, EXIM Bank has entered into an agreement on a project basis with Tanzania and Mozambique to provide lines of credit worth USD 36 million and USD 20 million, respectively.

Speaking on the occasion, Mozambique Prime Minister Aires Bonifacio Ali invited Indian businesses to invest in Africa.

“Indian multinational companies, small and medium enterprises and individuals are already to  investing in Africa, and the results are encouraging. Indeed, we would like to reiterate our warm invitation to all Indian business people to make huge investments in Africa and join our efforts geared to boost and diversify our economies, thus contributing to African development,” Ali said.

Over 650 participants from more than 36 African nations, including the Prime Ministers of Mozambique and Togo, the Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia and ministers from over 19 African countries, are taking part in the conclave.

At the conclave, Sharma said India was committed to ensure supply of affordable life-saving drugs for poor people.

“India will not allow this to happen where life-saving medicines are out of the reach of poor people. We will ensure that whatever new molecules develop, the benefit must reach the poor people,” he said.

Indian generic has played a pivotal role in bringing down the cost of treatment of diseases like HIV AIDS.

He said legal battles had to be fought and won due to stranglehold of cartel of multi-national drug companies which was denying the availability of these drugs to people in poor countries.

“We see some signs of that again, the campaigns that have been carried out and the backdoor manipulations…with the new medicines that are coming out that will happen again,” he said, adding, India has one of the finest IPR regimes.

Sharma also held a bilateral meeting with Minister of Industry & Commerce of Mozambique Armando Inroga and expressed optimism over the growing trade and investment between the two countries.

Annual bilateral trade for the year 2009-10 was USD 427.13 million with India’s exports amounting to USD 358.37 million.

“In order to exploit the true potential of bilateral trade in a more diversified area, we sat up a target of USD one billion by the year 2013 during the visit of the President of Mozambique last year. We hope that the trade targets could be achieved,” he said at the meeting.

India is among five major trading partners of Mozambique. The volume of trade between the two countries increased largely due to increase in exports from India to Mozambique.