India reviews ties with Zimbabwe, Zambia

New Delhi, March 31: India reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties with the African nations of Zimbabwe and Zambia over the course of meetings held in the last couple of weeks, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday.

"The first round of Foreign Office consultations with Zimbabwe and the second round of Foreign Office consultations with Zambia were held on March 20 and March 24 respectively," the ministry said in a statement.

It said in each of the meetings, "the two sides discussed the entire gamut of issues, including high-level political exchanges, development cooperation programmes, projects under IAFS (India Africa Forum Summit) mechanism, discussion on international forums, cooperation in the multilateral forums and trade, economic and commercial matters".

"Both sides also exchanged views on issues of regional and global importance while acknowledging the commonality of positions on matters of reform of international institutions and cooperation in regional grouping," the statement said.

"The Foreign Office Consultations have also enabled to lay a roadmap for further enhanced cooperation in view of India's outreach to Africa post the IAFS-III Summit (held in New Delhi in 2015)."

External Affairs Ministry Joint Secretary Neena Malhotra, in charge of Eastern and Southern Africa, led the Indian side while the Zimbabwean side was led by Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe and the Zambian side was led by Chalwe Lombe, Permanent Secretary in the Zambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.