It may be recalled that, during the visit to Africa, the President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, in his address to the Pan African Parliament on September 16, 2004, had announced the special initiatives taken by India for New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).

The President also had indicated how electronic connectivity and knowledge connectivity can help in enabling economic development of the region.

The President had mentioned about the possibility of connecting all the 53 nations of the African Union by satellite and Fiber optic links which could provide effective communication and connectivity among the nations as well as supporting tele-education, tele-medicine, e-governance, e-commerce, infotainment, resource mapping and meteorological services.

The Heads of Mission had called on the President in New Delhi on July 4, 2005. Monday's visit of the Heads of Mission is a follow-up to the above events.

The team was briefed on the Indian space programme at ISRO Satellite Centre. The team also saw the facilities at the Centre and India's latest communication satellite, INSAT-4A, which is in its final stages of readiness to be transported to Kourou, French Guyana, for its launch on board Ariane.

Later, the Heads of Mission had opportunity to witness live telemedicine and tele-education programme. As part of this they visited Narayana Hrudayalaya to appraise themselves of space-based tele-medicine.

Narayana Hrudayalaya is one of the super-specialty hospitals that have been networked with hospitals in various rural and remote areas by ISRO for telemedicine connectivity.

The team then visited Directorate of State Education Research and Training where they saw the EDUSAT programme under the Chamarajanagar District Rural Education Project and the programme of Visweswaraya Technological University.

The team saw the demonstration of remote sensing applications for resources monitoring and management at Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre.

The Heads of Mission included: Mr Mohamed Osman Omar of Somalia, Mr Ousman Nacambo of Burkina Faso, Mr Japhet Issak of Namibia, Mr Desmond Monde Nxiweni of South Africa, Dr Kheir Eldin Abdel Latif Mohammad of Egypt, Mr Larbi Moukhariq of Morocco, Mr Mahfud R M Rahiam of Libya, Mr Abdoulaye B A of Senegal, Lr Kayumba Nyamwasa of Rwanda, Mr Christian Goncalves Baeta of Ghana, Mr Santos Alvaro of Mozambique, Mr J Wutawunashe of Zimbabwe, Mr Elyes Kasri of Tunisia, Mr Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem of Sudan, Mr Orlando E Da Cruz Lima of Angola, Teketel Forssido of Ethiopia, Mr Aime Guezeon of Ivory Coast, Mr Charless M P Walimbwa of Uganda, Mr Marius Uzochukwu Offor of Nigeria, Mr Libert Mainza Choombe and Mr Chongo Shula of Zambia, Mr Yeba Sandenga of Congo and Mr D Seetahul of Mauritius.

Noting that both the India and African Nations have several common problems associated with nation building and the developments taking place in India can be replicated in African nations, the visiting Heads of Mission appreciated India's achievement in space technology and its various societal applications and said that they look forward to sharing the experience of India in its successful space programme.

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