New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Gujarati himself, said on Friday that his people started trade and commerce with Africa and he had links with the continent before he became chief minister of the western Indian state.

In his remarks at the interaction with African journalists at the Editors Forum for the third India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS), Modi also said he has had very good relations with various personalities of Africa.

"It was in fact the Gujaratis who started trade and commerce with Africa and maritime relations earlier on. Even today there are 270,000 Indians who live in Africa and many of them are Gujaratis. In fact, I too have had my links with Africa not only when I was the chief minister of Gujarat but even before that," eh said.

Modi said he have always had relations with the African continent and whenever guests came, they always met him.

"I have always had very good relations with various personalities of Africa. So, from a personal point of view, I have always had very close links with this region," he said.

Modi said an ocean divides India and Africa but the west coast of India and the east coast of Africa in fact are linked by the sea.

"It is said that millions of years ago in fact the two parts of the Earth were one piece and it was only much later that they became two separate pieces of land, one was Asia and the other was Africa," he said.