The first-ever India-Africa Forum Summit opened in New Delhi on Tuesday with leaders from 14 African countries attending the summit aimed at forging a more contemporary partnership in key areas like trade, energy and cooperation on global issues like the UN reforms, terrorism and climate change.

In the opening address, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Delhi Declaration and the Africa-India Framework for Cooperation will "provide the blueprint for India-Africa dialogue and engagement in the 21st century."

"The time has come to create a new architecture for our engagement in the 21st century. We visualize a partnership that is anchored in the fundamental principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit. Working together, the two billion people of India and Africa can set an example of fruitful cooperation in the developing world," said Singh.

Seven heads of state and government from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Libya, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia attended the summit.

Earlier, a team of senior officers from India and Africa has been working assiduously over the past few months to draft two key documents which will be adopted at the historic meeting of the India-Africa forum summit.

Foreign ministers from India and Africa held a closed-door meeting on Monday and agreed that the summit will have two outcome documents: a Delhi Declaration and an Africa-India Framework for Cooperation.

The Delhi Declaration is a political document and will cover issues of bilateral, regional and international interest to India and Africa, including their positions on UN reforms, climate change, WTO, international terrorism, etc.

India, an aspirant for the permanent membership of UN Security Council, is seeking the crucial support of African countries in bringing about reforms in the world body.

The Framework for Cooperation will spell out agreed areas of cooperation in many sectors including education, science and technology, agricultural productivity, food security, industrial growth, infrastructure and the development of the health sector. The India-Africa trade volume has increased by 285 percent to 25 billion U.S. dollars in the last four years. This has raised Africa 's share in India's global trade from 5.8 percent in 2002- 03 to 8 percent in 2006-07, according to the latest survey conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

"There is complete agreement between India and the African leadership on the steps needed to consolidate the partnership. Two documents have been frozen and finalized, which will be unveiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the end of the summit Wednesday," said Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma.

"The summit is not only historic, but will also give a new dimension and direction to the partnership that is evolving between India and Africa," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2008)