India - Africa Relation

 

• India Africa relations (economic & cultural) date back to pre-independence era and were strengthened during the national independence movement of India (Gandhi).
• After India's independence India’s non-alignment policy, anti-colonial, anti-racist stand and the factors like the success of Gandhian non-violent methods, establishment and survival of modern ideals of secularism, development brought India Africa even closer.
• However, due to various factors like India’s financial weakness and inward-looking economic policies India could not develop broader strategic relations with Africa.
• It was in 2000s, the ties between the continent and India remerged in importance. In the current phase, India is becoming an increasingly important economic and development partner for African countries.
• Its ties with Africa can be traced to a strong, shared history based on the principles of South–South cooperation, people-to-people linkages and common development challenges.

(Apathy regime in South Africa after independence, white people settle in South Africa start ruling. {Separate school, toilet for white & Non-white people}.  Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) fighting for Apartheid in South Africa).

Importance of Africa

• Resource rich region- Africa is very resource-rich and has moved from being an underdeveloped continent to having several fast-growing economies, and new democracies.
• Economic Growth- It also houses six of the world’s fastest growing economies as per world bank estimates.
• Additionally, several African countries have been providing incentives to attract foreign investors and partners in growth thus providing an opportunity for India.
• Reform in global institutions- India’s ambition to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council makes it imperative that it engages with all 54 countries of the continent.
• Convergence of interest- Two partners are aligned on the outstanding issues at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and are in favor of multilateral trading systems. At the Bali Ministerial in 2013 too, Africa and India had united in seeking an interim mechanism for safeguarding minimum support prices to farmers against WTO caps till a permanent solution is found and adopted.
• Cooperation to tackle terrorism: India strongly advocated stepped-up cooperation through intelligence exchange and training with 54 African countries.
• Cooperation on climate change between India and Africa, both who had “contributed the least to global warming”.
• Peace keeping operation: India is the largest contributor to UN-mandated peacekeeping and other operations in Africa.
• India provides a useful model for African nations of democratic development.
• India is increasingly responding to requests from African governments to share its democratic experience, offering training on electronic voting systems, parliamentary procedures, etc.

Relations between India and Africa

• Economic: Trade between India and Africa has increased more than eight-fold from US$7.2 billion in 2001 to US$59.9 billion in 2017, making India Africa's fourth-largest trading partner. (India major Export & FDI to Africa).
• It further has the potential to grow threefold to $150 billion in next five years.
• India is the fifth largest country investing in the continent, with investments over the past 26 years amounting to $54 billion.
• People to people contact: There has been a surge in people-to-people contacts as large numbers of African entrepreneurs, medical tourists, trainees and students have started coming to India and Indian experts and entrepreneurs have headed there.
• Business-to-business links between India and several African nations have become increasingly important and are driving the government-to-government relationship.
• Indian generic drugs, due to their relatively cheap prices, are used heavily to fight HIV/ Aids in Africa.
• Indian foreign aid to Africa: Through various developmental initiatives like India Technical Economic Cooperation Programme, Pan-African e-network etc.

Asia-Africa Growth Corridor: It is an economic cooperation agreement between India and Japan that envisages closer engagement between Asia and Africa for “sustainable and innovative development” and will be anchored to four pillars.

• Development and cooperation projects in health and pharmaceuticals, agriculture and agro-processing. farming, manufacturing and disaster management;
• Building quality infrastructure and connecting institutions;
• Enhancing capacities and skills; and
• People-to-people partnership.
• International Solar Alliance (ISA): India fostered Over a dozen of the ISA’s 24 members are from Africa, the continental powerhouse of solar energy.
• Kerala is planning on importing cashew from African countries for its processing plants that are running low on raw material.
• Similarly, Ethiopia and South Africa are working with Kudumbashree, a self-help group movement created by the Government of Kerala aimed at eradicating poverty and empowering women, to find ways to localize and adapt the model in their respective countries.

India’s developmental initiatives in Africa

• Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) that aims at capacity building, skill development, transfer of technology and sharing of experiences with the partner countries.
• Pan-African e-network (Tele education & Tele Medicine).
• Techno-Economic Approach for Africa–India Movement (TEAM–9): Launched by India together with eight West African countries to engage the underdeveloped yet resource-rich countries which require low-cost technology & investment to develop their infrastructure.
• Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa (SITA): is an International Trade centre supported project which aims at increasing value of business transactions between India and selected East African countries to create jobs.
• Cooperation with African Development Bank (AfDB).
• Development Assistance: India has announced a US$ 10 billion line of credit to help financing the projects in African countries.
• Solar Mamas: It is group of rural women solar engineers from Africa who have been trained under Government of India.
• Light up and power Africa initiative: Under this the African Development Bank has entered into partnership with the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to scale up solar energy in Africa.

India’s challenges in Africa

• Political instability: Political instability in number of African Nation may impact India’s long-term investment opportunities.
• Terrorism in Africa: There has been an extraordinary increase in terrorist attacks by extremists connected to al-Qaida and ISIS across Africa over the recent years. Boko haram – ISIS Axis.
• Attacks on Africans in India: There has been a spate of assaults on Africans based in India. It will generate a negative image of India in Africa and may impact on century-old ties with the continent.
• Cyber security issues and Phishing from Nigeria.
• Financial Limitations: In terms of cheque book diplomacy, India cannot compete with China or U.S.
• Some of the African countries, even the richer ones like Nigeria, expect India to bear gifts for them under India Africa Forum Summit. However, India asserts for joint endeavor for better development. (3^rd Summit in Delhi).
• China’s strong presence in the continent: China is a strong competitor for India in Africa. Africa China trade amounts to US$ 220 billion.
• China even built up its first overseas military base in Djibouti.
• China’s aggressive economic approach has caused it to achieve more influence in Africa than any other country. However, the African nations are increasingly realizing that though Chinese investments are attractive, there are certain issues like:
• Chinese companies, instead of employing locals use Chinese workers.
• It is also seen that these companies don’t pay much attention to environment protection.
• Chinese loans come with strict conditions that only Chinese technology will be utilized.