Summary
The article “India-Africa Connect: New Horizons, New
Vistas” written by Mr. Manish Chand, Editor-in-Chief of India and World and
India Writes Network, states that the resurgent African continent has a rising
profile in India’s diplomatic calculus. The Indian government
has decided to open 18 new Embassies and High Commissions in Africa in the next
few years, and the enhanced diplomatic
outreach has dovetailed with growing economic synergies. Many countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa have emerged as investment hubs, and India has emerged as
the 5th largest investor in Africa. Moreover, Mr. Chand states that Clean &
Green is set to be the new mantra of India-Africa partnership, and concludes
that the success of India-Africa partnership will be measured by the scale and
skill with which it visibly transforms people’s lives.
India-Africa Connect:New Horizons, New Vistas
By Manish Chand
Africa Day is celebrated
across the world on May 25 to mark the foundation of the Organisation of
African Unity and the continent’s liberation from imperialism and colonialism.
This year, months before the annual commemorative day, in India a special
“Africa Day,” was organised in the country’s western state Gujarat, home of
Mahatma Gandhi, on January 19. The Africa Day, held as part of the Vibrant
Gujarat annual business conclave, was attended by a host of African ministers
and leaders, including AU chair and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. The
decision to dedicate a day to an entire continent at a global conclave signalled
the rising profile of the resurgent African continent in India’s diplomatic
calculus.
Interlinked Resurgence
The Africa Day function
was not a feel-good ceremony, but it symbolised the blossoming of India-Africa
partnership that has branched out and bloomed in all areas, specially in the
last few years. Intertwining dreams and aspirations of over two billion people
of India and Africa, this mutually empowering and enriching partnership
intersects the ongoing resurgence of the twin growth poles of the world. The
economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, home to the world’s fastest growing
economies, is getting better by the day. The region is expected to grow at the
rate of over 4 per cent at a time of global economic uncertainty, according to
the IMF and World Bank. India, separated from Africa by warm waters of the
Indian Ocean, has emerged as the world’s sixth largest economy and is currently
the world’s fastest growing major economy. This conjoined resurgence,
complemented by ideals of South-South cooperation and a shared history of
struggle against colonialism and injustice, has translated into a visible intensification
of diplomatic outreach and economic diplomacy.
Enhanced Diplomatic Outreach
Two-way diplomatic
interactions between India and Africa have acquired an unprecedented intensity:
29 visits from India to
African countries at the level of President, Vice President and Prime Minister,
apart from several Ministerial visits, have taken place in less than five
years. Besides hosting the largest gathering of
African leaders on the Indian soil at the Third India-Africa Forum Summit
(IAFS-III), in which 41 Heads of State/Heads of Government participated,
Indiarolled out the red carpet for over 35 leaders from Africa and several
ministers in the last four years. India’s diplomatic footprints in a rising
continent are set to expand with the government’s decision to open 18 new Embassies
and High Commissions in Africa in the next few years, which will take the
number of Indian Missions in the continent to 47. The first of these Missions
has already been opened in Rwanda last year.
Business Bonding
Enhanced diplomatic
outreach has dovetailed with growing economic synergies. Afro-optimism is the
dominant sentiment among the Indian business community looking for new opportunities
to invest in the continent. Propelled by economic and governance reforms, many
countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have emerged as investment hubs, exhibiting
enhanced ease of doing business. The signing of the historic African Continental Free Trade Agreement
in March last year promises to be a game-changer in spurring economic
integration and transforming fortunes of the entire continent.
Aided by these positive trends, India- Africa
bilateral trade reached $62.66 billion for 2017-18,marking an increase of
nearly 22 % over the previous year. India is now ranked as the third largest
export destination in Arica.
India’s Duty-Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) Scheme
for Least Developed Countries has extended duty-free access to 98.2% of the
country’s total tariff lines, with 38 African countries now enjoy the benefits
of our DFTP Scheme.
Indian investment in Africa have shown an ascending
curve, with India emerging as the 5th largest investor in Africa with
cumulative investments of US$ 54 billion. Indian investments span diverse
sectors, including telecommunication, hydrocarbon, exploration, agriculture,
Education, petroleum refining and retail, IT services, chemicals, drugs and
pharmaceuticals, automobiles.
Looking ahead, there are huge opportunities for
enhanced partnership in areas of high-tech manufacturing, digital economy, minerals
and mining, IT and innovation. Given overwhelmingly young and tech-savvy
population of the continent, empoweringGenNext through tie-ups in new
technologies is the next frontier. In areas of health, education and other
niche areas of knowledge economy, India-Africa partnership is gaining a new
traction through new initiatives and joint ventures. In this context, an Agreement was signed in September 2018 to
establish e-Vidhya Bharati Aarogya Bharati (e-VBAB) Network Project between
India and Africa, which aims to provide tele-education and tele-medicine to
African countries.
Development Partnership
Animated by ideals of
South-South cooperation, development cooperation remains the cornerstone of the
India-Africa partnership. India has anchored its development partnership with
Africa on the principles of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit. “We
take pride in our model of cooperation with Africa which is demand-driven,
consultative, participative, involves local resources, builds capacity and is
based on Africa’s own prioritisation of its needs,” India’s External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj said at the Africa Day celebrations in Ahmedabad on
January 19. At IAFS-III, India
pledged $10 billion in Lines of Credit for diverse development projects across
the continent.Currently, 189 projects
in 42 African countries for nearly USD 11.4 billion are being implemented under
Indian LoCs. These projects, encompassing a wide array of areas such as power
generation and distribution, water related projects, especially in rural areas,
agriculture, irrigation, railways, sugar plants, infrastructure and ICT, are
transforming lives of people in Africa in myriad ways.
New Vistas
Clean & Green is set to be the new mantra of
India-Africa partnership. The sun is shining on the fortunes of India and
Africa, both literally and metaphorically. And green is the new mantra of this
shared quest for green growth and sustainable development. In this context, the
growing India-Africa partnership in solar energy through the International
Solar Alliance has paved the way for forging a multi-faceted green partnership
which is s et to enhance the quality of life people lead in India and Africa.
Blue Economy is another promising area of partnership between India and African
countries.
As India and Africa raise the ambition for their
partnership, promoting regional connectivity and integration will be a
game-changer. Africa Asia Growth Corridor is an idea, whose time has come, as
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. Both India and Japan, which are
partnering in AAGC, have unveiled a series of steps to implement this defining
corridor, which aligns with Africa’s vision of its own resurgence, as
encapsulated in African Agenda 2063.
The
Way Ahead
Going forward, the India-Africa partnership will
dovetail with African Agenda 2063 that encapsulates the essence of
Africa-driven and Africa-owned resurgence. India, as a committed partner of
Africa, will do everything possible to spur the realisation of African
Development Bank’s High 5s: “Light up and power Africa; Feed Africa;
Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the quality of life for the
people of Africa.”
In the final reckoning, the
success of India-Africa partnership will be measured by the scale and skill
with which it visibly transforms people’s lives. Outlining 10 principles of
engagement with Africa, Prime Minister Modi, in his address to the Ugandan
parliament, said memorably that the overarching thrust of India’s partnership
will be on liberating African potential
and not constraining African future.
In the end, it’s not just commerce and geopolitical
calculations that will propel India-Africa relations. Transactional relations,
after all, have limitations. India-Africa relations, in many ways, are special
as they are rooted in connections of heart and mind that go back centuries. The Mahatma-Madiba connect serves as a robust
foundation for India-Africa partnership that has acquired a new momentum amid a
shifting world order. The 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of the iconic African leader Nelson
Mandela is a reminder that shared civilizational values will continue to provide
spiritual fuel to power India-Africa partnership to new heights.
(Manish Chand is Editor-in-Chief of India and World
and India Writes Network. He has authored and edited many books on India-Africa
relations, including Two Billion Dreams)
