India and the African Union (AU) have decided to postpone the India-Africa Forum Summit scheduled to be held next week in New Delhi, due to the “emerging public health situation” in Africa, India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, in an apparent reference to the Ebola outbreak.
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The fourth India and Africa Forum Summit was scheduled to take place in New Delhi from May 28 to May 31.
The summit of ministers and leaders aimed to deepen cooperation on trade, investment, innovation, development, digital technology, sustainability and global governance.
After discussing the “evolving health situation in parts of Africa”, India and the AU agreed that it would be “advisable” to hold the summit at a later date, the foreign ministry said in a statement. It did not elaborate on the health concerns.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been facing an outbreak of a rare Ebolastrain for which there is no vaccine.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths have been recorded so far in the outbreak that started two months ago.
The Indian Foreign Ministry said new dates for the summit will be finalised in due course.
–Reuters–
