CBJ - July 26 - The India-Africa Business Network, launched at the Gordon Institute of Business in Johannesburg, is set to boost trade and open new business and investment channels between India and South Africa.

Speaking at the launch, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said South African trade with fellow members of the BRICS grouping were expanding.

"No longer is the African continent confined to the old powers that we used to know, we now have broader participants," he said.

South Africa's trade with India has doubled in the past five years taking total trade between the two countries to R42.9-billion, and making India SA's sixth largest destination for exports and ninth largest source of imports.

According to Inter Press Service (IPS), the India-Africa Business Network will be run out of the Gordon Institute of Business' newly formed Centre for Dynamic Markets and will complement existing networks, such as the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (Ibsa) and the India and South Africa CEOs forum, co-chaired by Indian industrialist Ratan Tata and Patrice Motsepe; executive chairman of Africa Rainbow Minerals.

The network's founder and director, Abdullah Verachia, told IPS that the network would function as a "knowledge hub for India-Africa commerce", promoting exchange between business leaders and educational institutions in both countries.

"There are incredible opportunities for South African businesses in India, which has a population in excess of one-billion," Verachia said. "The two countries are also on the first tier of emerging market economies and both face similar challenges of poverty and inequality."