NEW DELHI: India has focused on human resource development which has played a fundamental role in its industrial progress and is sharing that expertise with African nations, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday.

In the process of development, the most important ingredient is the human resource, he said.

India has emphasised on building human resource and that has contributed in the massive industrial and infrastructure expansion and development of the country, he said at CII-Exim Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership. “We want to share our expertise…for developing human resources and human capabilities, we are extending a network of scholarships and technical trainings,” Mukherjee said. He stated that 50,000 scholarships have been extended by India to the students of various African countries. “6,000 have already come out with the appropriate training. There are demands for more and more placements in our IT and other institutions and we are expanding our capacities,” he added. Citing example of metro rail, he said India has added hundreds of kilometres of metro rail between 2009 and 2017 and daily riders of passengers have increased from one million to about 3.5 million. Talking about increasing economic cooperation, the President said that as per some estimates, by 2050, India and Africa together will have a GDP of USD 35 trillion and the population would be 4 billion. “Therefore, the beginning of India-Africa century perhaps has started and let us accelerate the process,” he said. A line of credit to the extent of USD 7 billion has been extended to African countries by India to implement the projects of the third India Africa Forum summit.—PTI