Zero Hour: Cabinet approves opening of 18 new Indian missions in Africa by 2021

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the opening of 18 new Indian missions in Africa with an aim to expand India's footprints in the resource-rich continent where China has been trying to increase its presence. The new Indian missions will be set up over four years, from 2018 to 2021, the government said in a statement. It said the new Indian missions will be opened in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland and Togo. Currently, India has 29 resident missions in Africa.