Success that must be built upon

The just concluded third India- Africa summit  in New Delhi was an ambitious effort to further the partnership between India and the continent. It was the first chance for Prime Minister Modi to engage with African leaders  after he took over. A record number of them, including South Africa&’s Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe&’s Robert Mugabe, President Sisi of Egypt and Sudan&’s Omar al-Bashir attended the summit. It was unprecedented that all the 54 African countries with more than 40 Heads of State including two kings participated.

Gone are the days of the perception that Africa is poor and ruled by dictators. Today more than 30 of the 54 African countries have embraced democracy. For long, India&’s engagement with Africa was mostly on  anti-apartheid, and decolonisation. Now the narrative has changed. Africa has moved forward as its GDP is larger than India. Their human development indicators too have improved significantly. However, despite this many African countries are still struggling  with developmental challenges and health problems. This is where India comes in to hold hands with the continent even as Africa is seeking its rightful place in the world.

The summit was important because there are many similarities between Africa and India. Both had suffered from the colonial plunder of their rich resources. Their views converged during the cold war peirod as they were fellow travellers in many groups like the NAM. Most of India&’s participation in UN peacekeeping operations is in this continent. Africa  too is likely to benefit from a demographic dividend like India&’s as about 60 per cent of its population is younger than 35. Above all,  the continent&’s expanding economic clout  and its rich natural resources have attracted major world  powers, especially France,  United States and China.

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India is now pitching to become a global power and therefore looking to Africa for furthering its relationship with the continent for mutual benefit. Secondly, India&’s trade was so far looking towards the US and the West. Now with the slowdown of the global economy, New Delhi has to look for alternate markets. This is where Africa comes in with its huge trade and investment opportunities. Thirdly, there is a strong strategic element in the India-Africa relationship,  particularly on the Indian Ocean rim to counter China&’s ‘string of pearls’ policy. Fourthly New Delhi is looking to the 54 votes from the African bloc for its ambitious bid for the expanded UN Security Council. Fifthly, India needs to counter the Chinese influence in the continent as Beijing has been wooing them relentlessly for the past decade and more investing huge money on building ports, rails tracks, highways and infrastructure projects. 

China is Africa&’s largest trading partner with a $200 Billion trade. Although India&’s trade with Africa has more than doubled to $72 billion since 2007, it is still comparatively small.  Therefore the summit was the right opportunity to assure its commitment to invest in Africa.

While India is interested in Africa&’s natural resources the African countries want to benefit from Indian expertise in high-tech sectors such as IT and capacaity building.  India&’s  development partnership with Africa has so far stressed on capacity building and human resource development  besides  energy, food security, trade, cooperation, investment in agriculture, and people to people contact.

Prime Minister Modi also talked of the blue economy.  He made common cause with Africa over terrorism. Energy security was also an important area that has seen Beijing and New Delhi scramble for sources of oil supply in Africa.

The summit provided an opportunity to take stock of the situation.  Africa welcomed  Modi&’s  financial announcement at the summit.”To add strength to our partnership, India will offer concessional credit of USD 10 billion over the next five years. This will be in addition to our ongoing credit programme,” Modi said, adding India will also offer a grant assistance of USD 600 million which includes an India-Africa Development Fund of USD 100 million and a Health Fund of USD 10 million. Significantly,the assistance will also include 50,000 scholarships available in India over the next five years to support skills development.

Some important issues came up during the summit.   The first was the Security Council membership as both India and South Africa are claimants.  The second was terrorism which has become a common enemy.  “We must have a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism,” Modi said during his speech. The third was climate change and energy security. The fourth were the development initiatives announced by Modi. The fifth was  the mutual cooperation and  how India and Africa should  exploit opportunities.

No doubt this summit heralded a vibrant India looking to make inroads into a resurgent Africa but the success will have to be measured  in the follow up actions both in India and Africa.

The African leaders  also stressed this  raising several issues like climate change while  thanking India for its development programmes.

No doubt there was bonhomie, but there were also some criticisms. The first was the follow-up  and monitoring of things promised. India was criticised for slow delivery. Modi himself admitted India lagged behind in this regard. The second was lack of firm commitment from the African leaders for India&’s Security Council bid although they voiced support. The third was no specific frameworks were outlined for implementation of measures discussed.

New Delhi should cash in on India&’s goodwill  generated by the summit and move forward. While the next summit is five years away much needs to  be done if India and Africa want to tango.  

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