External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today launched the second phase of pan-African e-network project that offers a range of services in tele-education and tele-medicine to African nations.

Launching the project that would provide distance education and tele-medicine services to cover 12 new nations, Krishna asked them to take full advantage of the services offered by India in the fields of education and medicine.

Through the project, a branchild of former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the best education programmes and medical care available in India are broadcast via satellite and fibre network, linking India to 54 countries in Africa.

"We have made available facilities and expertise of some of the best institutions of the country," Krishna said.

The first stage of the project was inaugurated in 2009 and the second phase extends the project to 12 countries.

Under the project, India is helping in setting up a fibre-optic network to provide satellite connectivity, tele-medicine and tele-education to all nations.

"We have decided to offer training at regional level in these fields by conducting workshops," Krishna said.

The minister also interacted with senior officials and ministers from Botswana, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, Uganda and Zambia through video conferencing.

Describing the Pan-African e-network project as one of the finest examples of growing partnership between India and Africa, Krishna said this is the biggest project of distance education and tele-medicine ever undertaken in Africa.

Krishna said the project, which has already been implemented in 34 African nations, is also equipped to support e-governance, e-commerce, infotainment, resource mapping and other metereological and other services in the countries.

"This would provide VVIP connectivity among the Heads of States of the African countries through a highly secure and closed satellite network," Krishna said.

He said nearly 1700 students from African countries have already enrolled in the tele-education programme and Indian multi-speciality hospitals have also started consultations through the tele-medicine programme.

Regular Continued Medical Education sessions started from April this year and so far 654 sessions have been conducted, he said.

The Project was also awarded 'The Hermes Prize for Innovation 2010' for its contribution in the field of sustainable human development.