India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar spoke on the importance of India’s relations with the African continent at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Export-Import (EXIM) Bank Digital Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership.
In his virtual address from New Delhi at the partnership’s 15th conference, he was joined by: the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Prime Minister, Sylvestre Ilunga; Mauritius’ Prime Minister, Mohammad Anwar Husnoo, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Raychelle Awour Omamo; and Nigeria Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo.
During his speech, the EAM provided a historical description of India’s relations with Africa through the years. In particular, he sought to emphasize on the four ‘pillars’ of their ties: development partnerships; trade and investment; people-to-people ties, with a focus on education and capacity-building; and maritime security.
He shed light on the fact that India has carried out 194 development projects in 37 African countries, and is currently in the process of conducting a further 77 projects in 29 countries. The ongoing projects are valued at roughly $11.6 billion and focus on a whole range of initiatives, including infrastructure, ICT, power generation, water distribution, irrigation, railways, roads, and agriculture.
Dr. Jaishankar also spoke about India’s digital transformation and the importance of e-VidyaBharti, a tele-education platform, and e-ArogyaBharti, a telemedicine platform in bolstering education and healthcare in Africa.
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The EAM went on to speak about how Indian investment was a crucial factor in job growth and development in the energy, mining, banking, and textile industries, making special mention of India’s $7 billion investment in a Mozambican gas field. At the same time, he also said that India is Africa’s third-largest export destination.
He added that “Africa’s rise as one of the global system’s poles, is not just desirable, it is absolutely necessary” and “fundamental” to India’s foreign policy, which focuses on “broader global rebalancing”.
On a strategic front, he said that “defense and security cooperation” would form a crucial part of the next phase in India-Africa ties, saying that India is playing a key role in establishing ‘Staff and Command’ colleges in multiple African countries and has also trained thousands of officers and soldiers in Indian military institutions. He also sought to highlight India’s participation in peacekeeping and humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) missions in the continent.
Along these lines, he said that there have been 34 high-level visits by Indian officials to Africa since 2015, and 100 visits by African leaders to India over the past six years for bilateral and multilateral meetings, both of which he described as “unprecedented”.
The African leaders, for their part, expressed their gratitude for India sending coronavirus medicines and teams of doctors, and made clear their appreciation for Indian grants and concessional loans as well as the capacity-building initiatives undertaken by India in the continent.
They said that they are hopeful that the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will pave they way for greater coordination among African countries as well as improved trade ties with India. In fact, Jaishankar himself said that this agreement will make for more seamless economic interactions after it entered the “operational phase” in July.