A New Chapter in India-Africa ties can be Written

Context:

The 20-member Africa Expert Group (AEG), established by the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), recently presented the VIF Report entitled ‘India-Africa Partnership: Achievements, Challenges and Roadmap 2023’.

Findings of the Report:

• Pointed Out: The VIF report notes that India has a substantive partnership with Africa and a rich fund of goodwill, but it is “essential for India to review its Africa policy periodically, stay resilient by making the required changes, and place a razor-like focus on its implementation”.
• Suggestions: The report suggests a special mechanism for implementing the ‘Roadmap 2030’.
  • This can best be secured through close collaboration between the MEA and the National Security Council Secretariat through a team of officials working under the joint leadership of the Secretary, Africa in the MEA, and a designated Deputy National Security Adviser.

Importance of Africa for India:

• Geostrategic: Africa is critical to India’s security. The threat of radicalism, piracy, and organized crime emerges from this region.
• Economic: Africa is a resource rich nation dominated by commodities like crude oil, gas, pulses and lentils, leather, gold and other metals, all of which India lacks in sufficient quantities.
• Geopolitical: Support for India’s aim of gaining a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
• Diplomatic Power: A space for displaying both India’s soft and hard power.
• Market Exploration: Africa, a continent, accounting for nearly 17% of the world’s population today and reaching 25% in 2050.
  • The African continent has a population of over one billion with a combined GDP of 2.5 trillion dollars making it a huge potential market.
• Energy Supply: India is seeking diversification of its oil supplies away from the Middle East and Africa could be an important player.

India’s Contribution:

• Peacekeeping: India has been actively involved in promoting peace and stability in African countries through its participation in UN Peacekeeping operations. 
  • For instance, India has deployed a platoon as part of the Indian Battalion in the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in Abyei.
  • India first deployed an all women’s contingent in Liberia in 2007.
• Capacity Building: India is involved in the capacity building of African countries like e-VidyaBharti and e-ArogyaBharti.
• The ITEC programme: In 1964, India launched the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme to provide technical assistance through human resource development to other developing countries. 
  • Africa is a key beneficiary of the programme with nearly 50 percent of the ITEC slots reserved for countries from the region.
• Pan African e-Network : The late Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam initiated the Pan African e-Network (PAeN) in 2004, which has significantly contributed to the advancement of tele-education and telemedicine in Africa.
• Maritime cooperation: India’s maritime cooperation with African nations is also growing.

Challenges:

• High Influence of China: China stands apart, armed with a consistent and robust policy since 2000 to become virtually Africa’s biggest economic partner. 
  • China is maintaining her role as ‘the infrastructure developer’, ‘the resource provider’, and ‘the financier.’ It has invested enormously in Africa in terms of money, materials and diplomatic push.
  • Since 2007, Chinese leaders have visited the continent 123 times, while 251 African leaders have visited China.
• Competition with Other Nations: Superimposed on this landscape is the sharpening competition among China, Russia, the United States, the European Union, Japan, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates for strengthening their relations with parts of Africa to ensure market access, gain energy and mineral security, and increase political and economic influence. 
• Less Investment: Indian firms may be hesitant to invest in Africa due to concerns about slower economic growth, high levels of debt, and uncertainties in some African countries’ environments.
• Lack of Connectivity: Adequate city-to-city connectivity is lacking and adversely affecting people-to-people contact.
• Perception: African citizens view Indian investments as neo-colonialism or exploitative. 
• Implementation Challenge: India faces slow delivery and implementation issues.
• Racial attacks : Despite frequent references to Afro-Asian solidarity between the two nations, instances of violence against African students are common in India.

Way Forward:

• The central part is ‘Roadmap 2030’, a set of nearly 60 policy recommendations that are designed to deepen and diversify the India-Africa partnership. 
• They cover the following four areas:
• Political and Diplomatic Cooperation: The Cooperation should be strengthened by restoring periodic leaders’ summits through the medium of the India-Africa Forum Summit. 
  • A new annual strategic dialogue between the chairperson of the African Union (AU) and India’s External Affairs Minister should be launched in 2023. Another recommendation relates to forging consensus among G-20 members on the African Unions entry into the G-20 as a full member. 
  • Experts suggested that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) should have a secretary exclusively in charge of African affairs to further enhance the implementation and impact of the Africa policy.
• Defense and Security Cooperation: The government needs to increase the number of defense attachés deployed in Africa.
  • Need to expand dialogue on defense issues.
  • Widen the footprint of maritime collaboration
  • Expand lines of credit to facilitate defense exports. 
  • Increase the number of defense training slots.
  • Enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism, cyber security and emerging technologies.
• Economic and Development Cooperation: India-Africa trade touching $98 billion in FY22–23 is an encouraging development. 
  • This figure can go up if access to finance through the creation of an Africa Growth Fund (AGF) is ensured. 
  • Need for a special package of measures to improve project exports and build up cooperation in the shipping domain. 
  • A special focus on promoting trilateral cooperation and deepening science and technology cooperation could pay rich dividends.
• Socio-Cultural Cooperation: It should be increased through greater interaction between universities, think tanks, civil society and media organizations in India and select African countries. 
  • Need to set up a National Centre for African Studies.
  • Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarships awarded to Africans should be named after famous African figures.
  • Visa measures for African students who come to India for higher education should be liberalized. They should also be given work visas for short periods.

News Source: The Hindu