IMF chief's post: India unhappy over selection

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed disappointment at developing countries being ignored in the selection of the president of world's key financial body, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Speaking to the media after the conclusion of the Second Africa India forum summit, he said international relation is about power equation and countries do not give up such powers easily.

His comments come in the wake of the announcement of French finance minister Christine Lagarde's candidature for the position of the International Monetary Fund's Chairperson following Dominique Strauss-Kahn's resignation last week. Her candidacy is backed by the United Kingdom and Germany.

"Reforms of global institutions (Bretton Woods Institutions) are high on the agenda of developing countries. But international relations beyond a point are a matter of power equation. I however do not know who will succeed the IMF chief," Mammohan Singh said.

Manmohan Singh also said he is optimistic about their relations with Africa. He said that an act of investment is an act of faith and we have enough faith in Africa.  In the future, close coordination between the two nations on both political and social issues are needed, he noted.

"All in all, we have a large canvass before us, and I am extremely optimistic about the future of our cooperation. The similarity of our development experiences and circumstances has made India-Africa cooperation a genuine two-way street. This is its true strength and its distinctive feature," he pointed out.

In accordance with Africa's own priorities, we have decided to significantly enhance support for institutional capacity building, technical assistance and training programmes for human resource development in Africa.

The flagship Pan African e-Network Project is functional in 43 countries and is still expanding, he said.

"We have made a quantum jump in the areas of training and scholarships in our ITEC Programme which has acquired a sound reputation across Africa. Our total commitment for the next three years by way of scholarships and training slots to Africa students will stand at more than 22,000," he said.

In consultation with African Union, India will establish over 80 new institutions at the Pan-African, regional and bilateral levels in sectors such as agriculture, rural development, food processing, soil, water testing laboratories, integrated textile cluster, weather forecasting, life and earth science, information technology, vocational training, English language centers, entrepreneurial development institutes, Manmohan Singh said.

"The consolidation of our financial assistance consisting of grants and lines of credit into a cohesive plan has begun to show results in projects of interest to Africa. Our total commitment over the next three years is expected to be $5.7 billion to help Africa achieve its development goals," he said.