India can help us strengthen defence, anti-terrorism: mibia

New Delhi, October 18: Assistance in building up a strong defence system, peace keeping and an efficient anti-terrorism arrangement are among the prime topics to be discussed between India and mibia during the upcoming Indo-Africa Forum Summit here, the country’s envoy said. mibian High Commissioner to India, Pius Duiski, said that to boost the country’s defence system, they wanted India to train officers in the mibian Army, Air Force and vy on advanced techniques and facilities being used by the defence forces of other tions. “India had played a important role in establishment of mibian Air Force. In fact we had bought the first helicopters from India. It also helped in educating and training the mibians officers from Ministry of Defence, but now we want the training to be further developed,” Duiski told IANS in an interview.

The fifty-eight-year old diplomat, who has also been mibia’s envoy to Germany and Angola, said: “The anti-terrorism capabilities and the peace-keeping strategies are India’s asset, and mibia can get a lot of help, and learn in both the sectors,” said the envoy of mibia, which was part of South Africa till 1990. Noting that while mibia had no problem of terrorism or conflict, Duiski said, “It’s always good to have arrangements done as the world is a global village and one never knows what may strike when. India has excellent anti-terrorism system. Peace-keeping is also important because the world is well aware of the India’s role in peacekeeping in other countries.” African tions, especially Nigeria, in past few years have witnessed the problem of terrorism caused by Islamic terror groups like Boko Haram and Islamic States of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Through a map released by the ISIL in late-2014, ISIL had mentioned its presence in countries they seek to imminently control, which included all Arab countries and nearly half of all Africa.

Stating that there were four important sectors, including agriculture, Duiski said that the mibian delegation will have detailed talks with their Indian counterparts and would want the Indian companies to invest in all of them. “Infrastructure development, agriculture, industrialisation, and most importantly, the mining sector will be the prime areas of discussion with the Indian counterparts. Agriculture especially because the technology the Indians use in agriculture is very adaptable for the Africans. Industrialisation will be another important area because we want development in that sector,” Duiski told IANS.

Calling mining the backbone of mibian economy, Duiski said talks will be held over mining of diamonds, zinc and gold. According to the envoy, mibia has a target med “Vision 2030” and all major investment exchanges with countries were a part of it.   (ians)