India offers $10mn LC to Swaziland for setting up R&D park

NEW DELHI: India has offered a $10-million line of credit (LC) to Swaziland for setting up a science and technology park in Swaziland.

The line of credit is in line with Indian efforts to reach out to the African countries. Taking note of the gesture, Swaziland Prime Minister Dr Barnabas Sibusio Dlamini thanked Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who is in Swaziland to attend the executive committee meetings of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and appreciated the increasing commercial and trade ties between the two countries.

Speaker Meira Kumar assured the Swaziland Prime minister of India’s continued support in its development efforts as part of the South-South Co-operation, which India is engaged in strengthening, a press release said.

“... though we are located in different continents, memories of what India and Swaziland have gone through in terms of struggles and hardships of the people bring the two countries closer and create areas of understanding for each other,” she told the Prime Minister.

The Swaziland prime minister also called India a good friend and appreciated India’s unstinted support to the country.

At the official opening of the executive committee meeting, Speaker Meira Kumar said India, as the world’s largest democracy, was proud to be among the members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. She also met Indian families, mostly from Daman and Diu, who were engaged in businesses or serving as professors in Swaziland.