India-Malawi India-Malawi 2019 | Page 16

TAPPING THE POTENTIAL OF INDIA’S FAST TRACKING ICT DEVELOPMENT IN MALAWI By Dannii Ripuree Haakuria* 16 • INDIA-MALAWI • 2019 T apping the potential of India’s fast tracking ICT development in Malawi As an inevitable outcome of the global economy, the African continent is no longer the last frontier, having shifted from an agrarian economy focused on harnessing natural resources especially from the extractive resources industry and agriculture into becoming a consumer and not just an exporter of natural resources. There are three elements to India’s trade relations with Africa – increasing the volume of imports and exports between the two countries; government support to the private sector; and the diverse nature of India’s economic engagements, both government and private, with the African continent. The intra-Malawi and India trade can be traced back to the 50’s, when a number of Indian construction workers including peasants arrived on the Malawian hinterland to undertake infrastructure projects such as roads, railways