Pradeep Kumar Chaudhery

Additional Secretary, Commerce and Industry Ministry, India

After the India-Africa summit in April 2008 set out Delhi's new policies for the continent, Pradeep Kumar Chaudhery was given a leading role in the strategy with his appointment as Additional Secretary to the Department of Commerce in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Chaudery's predecessor was O.P. Arya, who became Chairman of the diamond industry's Kimberley Process in 2008. In late March, Chaudhery led a group of Indian businesspeople to Congo-Brazzaville. They attended a forum hosted by the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, which is promoting cross-border trade and development. India's main focus is on the region's petroleum, minerals and timber, but Anicet Georges Dologuélé, President of the Banques des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale, called for more private involvement in agriculture, finance, communications and health.

The India Forum was to discuss deals worth billions of dollars but the details are yet to emerge. India's relationship with Congo-Brazzaville has grown steadily from a very low base since Commerce Minister Kamal Nath pledged to boost it in 2005. It is part of India's wider plans to increase its trade with Africa to US$70 billion (or about two-thirds of China's current trade with Africa) over the next five years.

In his home state of Haryana, Chaudhery served in the Departments of Mines and Geology, Industries and Commerce, and Information Technology. He earned a master's in physics from Punjab University, joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1977 and has worked on rural development projects in his home district of Rohtak. As Deputy Secretary in the Steel Department until May 2008, he led the management of India's steel production.