Wednesday, February 2 2005 19:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Diplomats from African countries today (Feb 2, 2005) hoped that an ambitious project to e-connect Africa proposed by President A P J Abdul Kalam will take off before the world summit on the Information society in November to be held in Tunisia and demonstrate India's interest in using technology to bridge the digital divide in the continent.

"We are in talks with the Indian Government. We hope that this (e-connect Africa) will begin before the summit and demonstrate India's keen interest in development of the African continent," Tunisian Ambassador to India Elyes Kasri told reporters in Bangalore today.

Ambassador and High Commissioners from nine African nations - Tunisia, Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Eritrea, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burkina Faso concluded a four day official visit to the State and held interactions with IT, Pharma and Biotech sectors besides Government officials.

The diplomats were in Karnataka on the invitation of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

Kalam in his address to the Pan African Parliament last September proposed the $ 50 million project to e-connect 53 nations of Africa via satellite and fibre optic network to support tele-education, tele-medicine, e-governance, e-commerce, infotainment and meteorological services in an effort to fight poverty and disease, which he said were "common enemies" stalking Africa and India.

The project entails connecting five universities, 53 learning centres, 10 super-speciality hospitals and 53 patient end hospitals in rural areas.

Meanwhile, Namibia has expressed interest to replicate some of Karnataka's e-governance projects like registration of land and vehicle records and online treasury system in its country, State IT secretary M K Shankaralinge Gowda said today.

Namibia's High Commissioner to India Major General Charles D N P Namoloh, he said, was keen in learning India's experience in e-governance and wanted to replicate in the African nation.

Gowda said the African diplomats were also keen in providing citizen-centric services such as e-seva in Andhra Pradesh that helps citizens to pay for utility services and which is being replicated by BangaloreOne in the State.

He said Rwanda's Charge d' Affaires Charlotte Mukankusi was keen in tele education and also sought India's help in higher education in the country.

Tunisian ambassador Elyes Kasri said India's IT firms can use the talent in Africa for offering BPO services in French, Italian, Spanish and German to European countries.

He also invited Indian hospitals to set up operations and offer healthcare to African nationals, besides high-end facilities to visiting Europeans and Americans.