Give 10,000 scholarships to PIOs; within that give 2000 to Africa. They will come back as your ambassadors and promote India in Africa. Give them IT training. You will get ten times the business that China gets," sought Mahyendrah.
"Religious tourism should be encouraged to India. We have promoted India's culture there (in Africa). When P V Narasimha toured Africa in 1984, we had sung Telugu songs for him. There are five million PIO in Africa waiting to reach out to you," he said.
Highlighting the close ties between India and his country, former chief justice of Zimbabwe A M Ebrahim said: "Out of a total population of 12 million people in Zimbabwe, 4 million are expatriates. PIO number only 15,000. We have a lot of professionals among us, which include four judges, two public prosecutors and two senior civil servants. We are looked after very well because of the excellent relations enjoyed between the governments."
Image: Former Chief Justice of Zimbabwe A M Ebrahim attends the Africa session during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Also see: 'Diaspora must alleviate suffering of our people'
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