• India has gifted a fleet of six school buses to the government of Democratic Republic of Sao Tome & Principe.

• Sao Tome & Principe is an island nation in central Africa.

• The gift of school buses is part of India’s development assistance to the Global South.

• India’s gift is in response to the request received from the government of Sao Tome and Principe, seeking India’s assistance in making school education more accessible.

• This assistance will reinforce the school transport fleet of Sao Tome & Principe, and provide safer commute for students and reduce education costs for families and facilitate their access to school education.

• Earlier, in January 2025, the government of India sent a consignment of medical supplies comprising essential and life-saving medicines to buttress the healthcare sector of Sao Tome & Principe.

India’s relations with Sao Tome & Principe

• India and Sao Tome & Principe enjoy close and friendly relations and are diversifying their bilateral cooperation.

• Since the independence of Sao Tome & Principe in 1975, India and Sao Tome & Principe have enjoyed warm and friendly relations.

• The trade between India and Sao Tome & Principe is very less. Sao Tome & Principe is the second smallest country in Africa and its economy is very fragile, relying heavily on external aid and remittances. 

• Major bottlenecks in boosting trade are inadequate air and sea connectivity, high cost for trans-shipments of goods and very small size of the domestic consumer market. 

• Main items of imports from India are rice and cereals, pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, vegetable fats and oils, textile fabric and plastics

• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) International is engaging with the Central Bank of Sao Tome & Principe for deployment of a fast payments’ solution.

• Sao Tome & Principe signed the Framework Agreement on International Solar Alliance on 8 February 2018 and has also ratified the same. 

• The government of India has announced grant of Lines of Credit for $1 million for setting up a Technology Incubation-cum-Production Center for development of SME sector and for $5 million for priority projects to be

identified by Sao Tome & Principe side in agriculture, infrastructure and capacity building.

Key points on Sao Tome & Principe (STP):

• Sao Tome & Principe (STP) is an archipelago 350 km off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea

• STP is a small, lower-middle-income country, composed of two islands of approximately 960 sq km. 

• The islands were first discovered by Portuguese navigators between 1469 and 1472. 

• It became independent on July 12, 1975.

• Despite its size and remote location, it has a significant untapped natural wealth, including pristine rainforests with a rich and unique biodiversity, which is favorable for nature-based tourism.

• The country faces structural challenges typical of small, remote countries. Its small size and low population of about 240,000 limits the development of large-scale economic activities, resulting in a small and undiversified productive base. 

• The country’s economy is heavily dependent on plantation agriculture and on an emerging tourism industry, but relies mostly on external cooperation.

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