Amid keen interest to rediscover ties with Africa, India launched in Addis Ababa on Friday the pilot project of an ambitious e-network initiative which will connect 53 nations of the continent via satellite.

A brainchild of President A P J Abdul Kalam, the pilot project for tele-education and tele-medicine under the Rs 542.9 crore (Rs 5.42 billion) pan-African programme was inaugurated by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The programme aims at bridging the digital divide in Africa and develop the continent's information and communication technologies by eventually connecting all the 53 countries by a satellite through a fibre-optic network.

The tele-medicine project will connect hospitals in Ethiopia with top-notch healthcare institutes in India. The tele-education programme would provide an opportunity to Ethiopian students to get higher education at low costs from top quality Indian institutions.

The e-network project "continues the tradition of India's close partnership with the countries of Africa in their developmental efforts aimed at the well being of their people," Mukherjee said at the function for launch of the pilot project. The minister said on Thursday that India was keen to rediscover its "age-old" and "civilisational" relationship with Africa.