India took another big step to expand its science and technology cooperation with Africa with the announcement of the India-Ethiopia Innovation, Science and Technology Commercialization Programme in Hyderabad on Friday.

Ethiopia, the biggest country in Africa with a population of more than 100 million, becomes the second country in Africa to benefit from the programme that was first piloted in Rwanda starting 2017.

Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forests & Climate Change, launched the programme along with  Dr. Getahun Mekuria, Ethiopia's Minister of Innovation and Technology, on the concluding day of the Global R&D Summit.

The 6thDST-FICCI Global R&D Summit 2019 was on the theme of 'International Collaboration in Research and Development for Sustainable Growth'. Africa was the partner continent. The annual summit was organized by DST and FICCI. Telangana was the summit partner through the state's industry department, and supported by Research & Innovation Circle Hyderabad (RICH) and Telangana State Higher Education Council.

Ministers of Ethiopia and Zambia, and senior officials from Rwanda, delegates fromAfrican continent andabout 200 private sector enterprises, government institutions, academic centres of excellence and R&D experts of India participated in the Summit. Plenary and thematic sessions focused on policy framework to support R&D activities, building collaborations across borders, providing need-based technology and innovation solutions from India to meet development challenges of African nations.

Vardhan said "the vision of Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi is to share our technology and innovations for shared prosperity in Africa. India wishes to also create bilateral and multilateral platforms with like-minded South-South Cooperation partners to forge collaborations to ensure sustainable growth in developing countries. "

Mekuria welcomed the launch of the programme as a continued demonstration of India’s enhancing ties with Africa and in step with the India Africa Forum Summit III (IAFS-III) held in October 2015 in New Delhi.

"Ethiopia hopes to benefit from the growing innovation, science and technology collaborations and investments from India" said the visiting Minister, announcing that Ethiopia would host the India Technology and Innovation Week in the capital of Addis Ababa in May 2019.

Nkandu Luo, Zambia's Minister of Higher Education, praised the longstanding ties between her country and India including the presence of the Indian diaspora, and said she was confident that "