Rwanda is key to Africa: Modi
New Delhi/Kigali (Rwanda), July 24 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that Rwanda is the key to Africa.
Prime Minister Modi was addressing the India-Rwanda Business Forum jointly organised by Ficci and the Rwanda Development Board in Kigali.
Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, in his address at the forum said that his administration is willing to address any bottleneck such as visa issues to further strengthen trade relations between the two countries.
At present, India is amongst the top trade, investment and development partner of Rwanda.
"Over the past decade, Rwanda has been hailed as a rising star of Africa and is one of the fastest growing economies," a Ficci statement said.
Rwanda ranks second in Africa in terms of competitiveness as per the Global competitiveness report of World Economic Forum 2017-18.
Ficci President Rashesh Shah said that India considers Rwanda a serious strategic partner in Africa.
"Rwanda is a rising star in the Africa growth story which resonates well with India. Trade between India and Rwanda has crossed $100 million. We expect that to cross $1 billion in the next few years," Shah was quoted as saying in the statement.
He added: "There are plenty of opportunities in both the countries. Ficci as the apex chamber and the Indian industry would support wholeheartedly in harnessing the potential."
Shah who is also Chairman and CEO, Edelweiss Group, led an over 100-member strong Indian business delegation to Rwanda.
Apart from the business forum and B2B meetings, several MoUs were signed on this occasion between RDB and Ficci, RDB and Avaada Power and others.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
LPG crisis: Karnataka temples gear up to stock wooden logs for ‘Prasada’
Bengaluru (PTI): Temples in Karnataka have started preparations to stock wooden logs fearing that the LPG shortage could hamper the ‘Prasada’ preparation and distributions to the devotees.
The looming LPG crisis in the state in the wake of Iran-Israel conflict has made the temple managements jittery.
According to the Akhila Karnataka Hindu Temple Archakas Federation (AKHTAF) president M S Venkatachalaiah, there is no immediate crisis in the temples.
“We have LPG cylinder stock that can last for a week but if this scarcity continues then there will be a problem in serving Prasada (offerings to the deity) to the devotees,” AKHTAF president said.
He added that many temples in the state have started stocking wooden logs to overcome the LPG crisis.
“Our temples have started preparing to store wooden logs to prepare Prasada though currently we don’t have a problem, at least for a week,” Venkatachalaiah told PTI.
Another priest working in a temple belonging to the state Endowment Department said the temples may have to go back to the traditional way of cooking as done in the ancient time using wood.
The LPG crisis has not affected the mid-day meal programme for government school students yet, though there was a meeting in the Education Department to find ways to tackle if crisis deepens, sources associated with the Mid-day Meal programme said.
Meanwhile, the largest partner of the Mid-day Meal programme in the country is Akshaya Patra.
The NGO said they do not depend much on LPG gas cylinder.
“The LPG crisis has not affected us. Our kitchens are steam-based, and we generate steam through boilers which run on electricity. That’s point number one. Point number two—gas is used only for very minor things, mainly for seasoning. That is the tadka,” an Akshaya Patra executive told PTI.
According to him, the NGO has has a gas reserves for about nearly one month across India, though gas is used in very small quantities every day.
He pointed out that the Mid-day meal programme will not be affected because in one or one-and-a-half weeks, schools will close owing to summer vacation.
Akshaya Patra feeds 23.5 lakh children across more than 24,000 schools across India, in 16 states and three Union Territories, he said.
