DAKSHIN

Mali

India and Mali have traditionally maintained friendly relations and have no geo-political issues between them. The Government of India established its Embassy in Bamako in May 2009. Mali followed soon by opening its Embassy in New Delhi in August 2009.

Ambassador met officials regarding construction of 393 kms of high voltage transmission line with a US$100 Million LoC from India

Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Day was celebrated

Cash assistance of US$ 500,000 towards revival of World heritage site of Timbuktu

Ambassador Anjani Kumar called on H.E. Mr. Mossa Ag Attaher, Minister for Youth & Sports of Mali & discussed ways for further deepening cooperation in education, including tele-education, training & sports

Cooperation to tackle the challenge of COVID-19 Pandemic

The first Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Mali were the 396,000 doses of Made-in-India Covishield vaccines which were supplied to Mali through International COVAX Arrangement in March 2021.

Capacity Building & Other Exchanges

The Government of India offers various short term training programmes under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme to Mali. The ITEC programme is administered by the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India, under which all expenses including international airfare, boarding, lodging, tuition fees, etc. are borne by the GOI. These programmes essentially aim to enhance the qualification and skills of persons who are already employed in government establishments. For the year 2022-2023, 70 ITEC slots have been offered to Mali which are in the process of being utilized.
Under ICCR’s Africa Scholarship Scheme for higher studies in India, Mali has been offered 13 slots for the 2022-2023, up from 7 in the previous year. But based on greater demand, a total of 16 Malian students were given scholarships for higher studies in India in 2022. In addition, one Malian student was provided scholarship for studying Hindi at the Central Institute of Hindi at Agra in 2022.
India is becoming one of the favored destinations of Malian students for their higher education. Apart from the scholarships offered by the Government of India, many Malians go to India for their higher studies as self-financed students.
e-VidyaBharati and e-AarogyaBharati (e-VBAB) Project for Tele-Education & Tele-Medicine:Mali has been offered the e-VidyaBharati and e-AarogyaBharati (e-VBAB) Network Project to provide free tele-education courses in various academic disciplines and free continuing medical education to doctors/nurses/para-medical staff including free medical consultancy. An MoU between Mali and Telecommunications Consultants India Limited [TCIL] was signed on 4 November 2019 in New Delhi for Mali’s participation in this project.
The tele-education portal iLearn & iHealth for Africa provides access to over 500 courses in various disciplines including engineering and technology, education, mathematics and sciences, education, humanities and arts and teacher training. The portal offers 15000 scholarships to African partner countries, including Mali, to pursue undergraduate and postgraduate courses from premier public and private Universities of India. 45 scholarships awaited from Mali have enrolled for the July 2022 academic session under e-VBAB.
C. V. Raman Fellowship Scheme: 8 slots offered to Mali, 2 have already been availed.
Two Malian military officers participated in the training programme conducted by the Centre for UN Peacekeeping in Delhi.
Malian Army had been offered 2 slots in the army training institutes at Non-Commissioned Officers Academy (NCO Binaguri) and 1 slot in Junior Leaders Academy (JLA Bareilly) for the year 2020-21.

Development Cooperation (Grants/ LoCs/ Assistance)

India’s development partnership with Mali through Lines of Credit covers sectors including power, railways and agriculture. India has extended a total of 11 LOCs [(including 2 LOCs extended through ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)] amounting to US $ 436.27 million to the Government of Mali. Projects under 6 LOCs have been completed in sectors of power, railways and agriculture. Projects under three LoCs are under various stages of implementation in the sectors of power and agriculture.
7 projects under Lines of Credit (LoC) totalling US$ 203.62 million have been completed. A 225 KV double circuit power transmission project connecting Bamako and Sikasso via Bougouni (395 Kms) for which the Government of India extended an LoC of US $ 100 million, is under construction and expected to be completed in 2023. Other completed projects are in the energy sector (transmission line), agriculture and food processing projects, acquisition of railway coaches and setting up of agro-machinery and tractor assembly plant.
Gifting of IT Equipment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mali - this was announced during the visit of Vice President of India to Mali on September 29-30 2015. They were handed over to MOFA on 14 April 2017. Amount CFA 10,036,500 (eq. Rs. 10,93,074).
Cash assistance of US$ 500,000 towards revival of World heritage site of Timbuktu - This was announced during the visit of Vice President of India to Mali on September 29-30 2015. The donation cheque was handed over to the Mali’s Minister of Culture on 2 March 2017.
Equipment for obstetrics held (Rs. 3.84 lakh) donated to community health centre in Sikasso (2020-2021).
Contributed $ 1 million as grant to AFISMA (2013).