South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, Congo’s president Joseph Kabila Kabange, Ethiopia’s Prime minister Meles Zenawi, Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni are among the 15 heads of African governments, which will be participating in the African summit to be held on April 8 and 9.

Besides, Burkina Faso’s PM Tertius Zongo, Ghana’s president John Agyekum Kufuor, Kenya’s president Mwai Kibaki, Senegal’s president Maitre Abdoulaye Wade, Tanzania’s president Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Zambia’s vice president Ruypiah Banda are also expected to participate, along with African Union Commission chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare.

More than a year after China talked business in November 2006 as it hosted an Africa summit in Beijing, India is going to hold its own summit with African countries in an effort to boost trade and investment with the continent.

The India-Africa summit, which is expected to be attended by at least 17 heads of African governments, will be held in New Delhi next week.

India’s interest in Africa stems from the huge untapped resources in the continent, and the summit - which will be preceded by official and ministerial-level meetings - is a response to the Chinese bid to cement trade ties with Africa in its summit held in November 2006.

India’s trade with Africa has been increasing at a rapid pace in the recent years and this can be gauged from the fact that the two-way trade between India and Africa more than doubled between 2001 to 2006: from US $5,493 million (2001-02) to US $11,822 (2005-06). And in 2006-07, the last available figures show, that the trade stood at US $12.24 billion.

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