Addis Ababa, May 10 (IANS) A two-day India-Africa seminar kicks off here Wednesday ahead of the second India Africa Forum Summit to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Ethiopian capital later this month to step up ties between the two regions that account for 40 percent of humanity.

The seminar has been organised by the Indian Council For World Affairs (ICWA) with support from its counterpart here, the Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development, under 'Track-II Diplomacy' initiative of India's ministry of external affairs.

'This the first of the seminars we are hosting, ahead of the India-Africa Summit which our prime minister is inaugurating. The outcomes and suggestions will be taken up at the larger level,' said ICWA Director General Sudhir T. Devare.

'The focus remains how India-Africa partnership can be mutually beneficial for the overall development and growth,' Devare, who is also among the key speakers at the seminar, told IANS.

The organisers said the seminar was also in the nature of an academic conference with expert speakers drawn from areas such as strategic affairs, banking, gender issues, finance, policy, education, foreign relations and history.

Key speakers include the African Union Deputy Chairman Erastus J.O. Mawencha, Ethiopian Education Minister Demeke Mekonnen and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Berhane Gerbe, and National Maritime Foundation Director C. Uday Bhaskar.

The seminar, ICWA said in a concept note, will focus on five key areas:

Economic development, capacity building in terms of human resources, gender mainstreaming, diaspora resource and non-traditional security.

In terms of the two-million-strong Indian diaspora in Africa, the note said India has not been able to convert it into a resource and the same holds true for African nations. The speakers will seek to find answers to this issue.

The seminar comes at a time when India's bilateral trade with Africa crossed the $50-billion mark last year, and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Shaerma has set a target of $70 billion by 2012.

In economic partnership, one of the main topics of discussion will be how the Indian private and public sector companies can contribute to the infrastructure needs of Africa both with technology and funds.

Addis Ababa is the seat of the African Union.

(Arvind Padmanabhan can be contacted at arvind.p@ians.in)