HIGH COMMISSION OF INDIA

1.	Name and capital	Republic of Sao Tome & Principe Capital: Sao Tome STP is a former Portuguese colony and it got independence on July 12, 1975.
2.	Area	1001 sq. km (386 sq. miles)
3.	Composition	Archipelago composed of 3 principal islands : The island of São Tomé (ca. 860 sq km), the islet of Rolas (ca. 3 sq km) and the island of Príncipe (ca 140 sq km)
4.	Population	169,000 (2005)
5.	Currency/Exchange rate as on a recent date	1 dobra= 100 centimos
6.	Languages spoken	Portuguese
7.	Time Hours +/- GMT Daylight Saving Time details, if any	GMT + 1 IST (-) 4 ½ hrs
8.	Global trade and investment	Main exports – Cocoa, Copra, Coffee, Palm oil. Main Imports – Machinery and electrical equipment, food products, petroleum products.
9.	Total imports with major countries	US$ 71.2 mn f.o.b 2007 est Portugal, France, Belgium, US.
10.	Total exports with major countries.	US$ 4.384 mn f.o.b 2007 est Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal.
11.	Ports, harbours, Airports	Santo António (Príncipe) and São Tomé (São Tomé) Airports : 1 (Island of Príncipe), 1 (Island of São Tomé)
12.	Name of HOS/HOG/Foreign/ Finance/ Defence/ Commerce/ Industry Ministers	Chief of State: Fradique Melo de Menezes (since September 2001) Head of Government: Prime Minister Mr. Joaquim Rafael Branco Foreign Minister: Mr. Carlos Tiny
13.	Major Newspapers/TV/ Radio Channels with contact detail	Newspaper: Tela Non Diario de Sao Tome e Principe - daily, in Portuguese Television: Televisao Saotomense (TVS) - state-run national broadcaster Radio: Radio Nacional de Sao Tome e Principe - state-run national broadcaster
14.	Political Parties	Christian Democratic Front (FDC), Democratic Opposition Coalition (CODO), Independent Democratic Action (ADI), Movement for liberation of Sao Tomé and Principe Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD), Party for Democratic Convergence (PDC) and other small parties.

India – Sao tome & Principe Bilateral Relations

India and Sao Tome and Principe (STP) have generally enjoyed warm and friendly relations, particularly after 1975 (post-STP independence era). High level interactions have generally been limited to occasional multilateral meetings. However STP is very keen to develop closer ties with India. They consider India as a strategic partner and are willing to enter into an institutional arrangement in that regard. They have consistently supported India in the multilateral fora. STP Government holds India in high esteem.

Visits: There have not been any high level exchange of visits between the two countries, except that the leaders of the two countries have met at some of the international fora, such as UN, NAM etc.

Earlier ST&P was concurrently accredited to our Embassy in Angola.

ST&P has been transferred as concurrent accreditation to High Commission of India to Nigeria since 2005. Deputy High Commissioner in HCI Abuja visited STP on April 29-May 5, 2007 & held discussions with various ministers for exchanging bilateral cooperation.

MOS(AS) has extended an invitation to Foreign Minister of STP to visit India. An MoU between FICCI and STP Chamber of Commerce is under consideration.

Bilateral Trade: STP imports products worth approximately US$ 50 mn annually. The bilateral trade between India and STP is almost negligible. Though STP importers are interested in procuring various items of interest from India, one of the constant complaints they have is that the shipping time and costs are quite high. The main items of impotrs have been organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cotton and optical, photographic, medical instruments etc.

	2005-06	% Share of India’s total Export/import	2006 - 07	% Share of India’s total Export/import
Export	0.41	0.0004	0.87	0.0007
Import	0.02	0.0000	-

Indian investments: ONGC, VL has a stake in bloc 2 of the Joint Development Zone and another company Aban Engineering will be drilling bloc 4 of the JDZ. In 2008, STP is expected to put in place a regulatory mechanism in the petroleum sector and will call for expression of interest in the oil blocs off the coast of island of Principe which will be in the exclusive economic zone and not a part of the JDZ which may be of interest to Indian companies. The Indian companies are working for opportunities in the imfrastructure, pharma and SMEs sector.

NEPAD: Under NEPAD initiative we have provided US$ 200 mn which STP can avail for various projects.

Pan African e-network: We have requested them to expedite signing of the MoU with TCIL for the implementation of the Pan African e-Network Project.

Line of Credit : A line of credit for a potable water supply project or any project with a socio-economic impact is under discussion for which the STP side would provide the project details in due course. Similary they are looking for funds and investments to revive their power generation and transmission sector. Investments in tourism, Upstream & down stream petroleum sector and port development as well as SMEs are being encouraged.

ITEC: ST&P has been allocated 5 slots under ITEC and hopefully they will be able to find suitable candidates. They have requested for food and medicine aid for which formal proposals are yet to be received. A senior diplomat attended the professional course for foreign diplomats at Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi.

Indian Community: There are only 22 Indians in STP but Indian traders settled in neighbouring countries visit Sao Tome and Principe sometimes for trading or otherwise. In fact, there was a small Indian community in STP until year 1961, which was then expelled by Portuguese rulers consequent to Indian action (1961) in Goa, Daman & Diu to get them released from Portuguese rule

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June 2008

Head of Government: Prime Minister Mr. Joaquim Rafael Branco