Mali has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit its historical city of Timbuktu which is a cultural heritage site.
Mali has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit its historical city of Timbuktu which is a cultural heritage site. The ancient city, incidentally, is facing threats from terrorists who have threatened to blow it up. President of Mali, Mr Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Mali during a bilateral meeting on Thursday and offered to accompany him to Timbuktu. Prime Minister Modi met several African leaders in bilateral meetings on Thursday and Friday as well. He had earlier held bilateral meetings with 19 African leaders on Wednesday as well.
In his bilateral meeting with the vice-president of Angola — a major supplier of diamonds — Prime Minister Modi pointed out that since India is a major centre for cutting and polishing diamonds, India could source diamonds directly from Angola. Sources said that so far as financial assistance to Africa is concerned, India is closely monitoring the gap between financial assistance that has been approved and that which has been disbursed.
On Thursday, Mr Modi met the King of Morocco, the President of Namibia, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Ethiopia and Somalia in bilateral meetings and also the vice-presidents of Angola and Tanzania. According to the ministry of external affairs, on Friday evening, he was scheduled to have bilateral meetings with the Presidents of Sudan, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, South Sudan, Liberia and Senegal, the Vice-president of Zambia and Burundi and the Prime Ministers of Mauritius and Rwanda.
India assured Somalia of assistance in the security sector even as the two countries have decided to enhance cooperation in the maritime security and anti-piracy operations.
