India and Africa - Bold Horizons and New HOPE
- In Dispatch
- 12:12 PM, Jul 14, 2016
- Ramaharitha Pusarla
Amidst looming doubts as to why Prime Minister Narendra Modi undermined Indo-African connect and embarked on a four-nation tour only after two years into power; a quick memory check can address this beguiling ambiguity that the Modi regime has always accorded highest priority to traditional partners. His tryst with Africa began in March 2015 with a visit to two Indian Ocean Island nations- Mauritius and Seychelles. Followed by the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) hosted in New Delhi in October 2015 which was then followed by successive visits of the President and Vice-President to the continent. IAFS was attended by leaders and representatives from 51 of the 54 African countries during which India pledged a concessional Line of Credit (LOC) worth $10 billion, a grant assistance of $600 million including the India-Africa development fund of $100 million, 50,000 scholarships for Africans in India over five years and support for the expansion of Pan-African-E-network Project. Vice President Hamid Ansari also visited Tunisia and Morocco from 30th May to June 3rd which was followed by President Pranab Mukherjee’s maiden Africa tour to West African countries of Ghana, Ivory Coast and Namibia from June 12th to 17th.
To sustain the momentum generated through IAFS and to impart fresh impetus to economic & strategic relationships with mainland African countries, PM Modi on his five day long- four nation sojourn visited Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from July 7th to July 11th 2016. Over the last two years there has been an unprecedented surge in diplomatic activity between India and these 4 nations. India’s outreach was also consistently buttressed by high level visits, something that never happened before. India had also made Africa a partner in trilateral initiatives with the US and Japan by pledging to train the troops of five African nations before their final deployment in UN peace keeping missions.
Prolonged global slowdown and stagnant growth of European and Latin American economies have forced emerging nations to explore new avenues for economic investment. Africa with its growing infrastructure, vibrant growth, abundant natural resources and expanding middle class has certainly emerged as an alternative land of opportunities. Though dramatic decline of commodity prices, economic slowdown of China has markedly affected its economy, Africa still remains a favored destination for trade and investment.
Modi’s African outreach concentrated on strengthening strategic partnerships and intensifying counter-terror cooperation. Africa is grappling with twin scourges of terrorism and radicalism. With terror outfits such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, ISIS and Al-Qaeda expanding their foot hold, increasingly audacious attacks have become a commonplace.
Lately, China has been increasing its footprints in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) by sealing official contracts for establishing naval bases and securing berths at vital ports. Setting up a naval base in Djibouti, located in the horn of Africa is one such outcome. Therefore, a vital aspect of the engagement with littoral African nations who are members of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is enhanced maritime and naval cooperation. Maritime cooperation has been one of the cornerstones of India’s ambitious concept of a blue water economy and PM Modi has certainly rejuvenated IORA and infused new energy to the SAGARMALA initiative.
While India’s relations with Africa have been steady over the past 50 years, high level visits were very infrequent. Modi has changed that. An Indian PM finally visited Mozambique after a gap of 34 years!! The last Prime Minister to visit Mozambique was Mrs. Indira Gandhi in 1982.
India signed three key MoU’s including an agreement for the import of Pulses. Prices of pulses have skyrocketed over the past 18 months because of two years of successive droughts. India will initially import 100,000 tons of Pulses with the option of steadily increasing it up to 200,000 tons over the next four years. The other two MoUs are on the reduction of demands for drugs and prevention of illicit drug trafficking.
In Maputo, PM Modi held talks with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and visited the Centre for Innovation and Technological Development (CITD). Modi interacted with students who studied under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and met an Indian delegation before leaving for South Africa. India had established firm diplomatic relations with Mozambique in 1975. Trade and cultural relations between the two countries had existed for the past several centuries. In fact, Vasco da Gama had met Indian traders on Mozambican shores when he landed there in 1499. India is among the top five trading partners of Mozambique and the eight largest investor. India has also been extending credit, educational and technical cooperation and collaboration in agriculture, skill development and in health care.
In the second leg of his African sojourn, PM Modi arrived in Pretoria, South Africa on July 8th.
South Africa being a member of BRICS, IBSA, BASIC and G-20, PM Modi had previously met President Jacob Zuma on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit at Fortaleza, Brazil in 2014, at Ufa, Russia in 2015, the G-20 summit at Brisbane in November 2014 and at the 3rd IFSA in Delhi in 2015. Recently at the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) plenary in Seoul in 2016, South Africa was in the news for expressing reservations about India’s membership application. Ending all speculations, President Zuma during Modi’s visit unequivocally supported India’s membership and entry to the NSG. Both countries have also firmly supported each other’s bids for permanent membership of the UNSC.
Indo-South African relations is strengthened by bilateral trade that stood at $5.3 billion with trade balance tilted in favor of South Africa. India exports vehicles, transport equipment, drugs, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, dyes, footwear, rice, jewelry and imports gold, steel, copper ore, phosphoric acid, coal, manganese, aluminum and other metals from South Africa.
In South Africa, Modi invoked India’s historic linkages with the land. He embarked on a train journey to Pietermaritzburg station, where a young MK Gandhi was thrown out of the train for refusing to leave the first class compartment reserved only for whites in 1893. That incident left an indelible mark on Gandhi who undertook the first non-violent civil disobedience movement for civil rights in South Africa. Modi also visited Constitution Hill (where the Mahatma was incarcerated in 1906), Sarvodaya (Gandhi’s residence) and Phoenix settlement in Durban (a community established by Gandhi in 1904). Modi also fondly recalled the love and affection India had and continues to have for Nelson Mandela.
Several agreements were signed for cooperation in defence, agriculture, science and technology, manufacturing, education and health. Agreements were also signed on joint development of heavy-weaponry, customs cooperation and visa free travel for diplomatic passport holders.
PM Modi then addressed a business summit in Pretoria and invited South African business giants to invest in India. Modi sporting a Madiba shirt, enthralled the 11,000 strong Indian diaspora and sold the Indian dream by envisaging his passionate vision of HOPE (Harmony, Optimism, Potential and Energy). South Africa is home to 1.5 million people of Indian origin who arrived on its shores back in 1860. Indian diaspora constitutes 3% of the South African population and Durban is considered the largest Indian city outside India.
Next stop- Tanzania!! Modi was extended a very warm welcome at Dar-es-Salaam. From 1960 to 1980, political relations between the two countries were driven by the shared ideology of anti-colonialism, anti-racism, socialism and South-South Cooperation. In that spirit, Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere had been conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru award for International Understanding in 1974 and International Gandhi Peace Prize in 1995.
India and Tanzania have also had a thriving business relationship with bilateral trade reaching $ 3.57 billion in 2015. In this visit by PM Modi, India signed five agreements with Tanzania including one that provided a $92 million credit line. Other MoU’s signed included- one on water resource management, establishment of vocational training centers at Zanzibar, visa waiver for diplomatic passport holders, and an agreement between National Small Industries Corporation of India and the Small Industries Development Organization, Tanzania.
PM Modi proceeded to have extensive bilateral talks with President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli aimed at deepening the defence and security partnership. Tanzania has been the biggest beneficiary of ITEC training slots and ICCR scholarships till date.
Modi then went on to charm the Tanzanians with his drumming skills with a meeting with Solar Mamas, who trained at the Barefoot College in Tilonia village, Rajasthan. Around 30 women from six African countries received training in solar electrification and other entrepreneurial skills for harnessing solar energy supported by the government of India. India has also been a major supplier of medicines and pharmaceuticals to Tanzania.
On the final leg of his African odyssey Modi landed in Nairobi, Kenya as the Prime Minister of India. This after 35 years of any Indian PM visiting Kenya goes to show how neglected our relationship has been with Africa. That too to a country which houses a thriving diaspora!!
India had first established the Office of Commissioner at Nairobi in 1948. Bilateral relations between India and Kenya are powered by strong economic, business and cultural links. Both countries had accorded MFN (Most Favored Nation) status to each other in 1981!! A Joint Trade committee was set up in 1983 and both countries signed double taxation avoidance agreement back in 1989.
Bilateral trade has touched $4.235 billion as of 2015. India is the largest trading partner of Kenya and its second largest investor. Besides extending two concessional Lines of Credit of $44.95 million towards development of small and medium industries and textiles; both sides agreed to expand cooperation in defence and security and signed seven agreements. These Include-MoU of defence cooperation for sharing of expertise, training, exchange of personnel, cooperation in hydrography & equipment supply, revised Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DTAA), exemption of visa for holders of diplomatic passports and cooperation in fields of standardization.
Kenya which is currently one of the major producers of tea got its first tea seedlings from Assam back in 1903. In 19th and 20th century thousands of Indian workers helped in building railways in Kenya. Kenya has always had a sizeable Indian diaspora with Gujarati roots and PM Modi reiterated the crucial role of Indian diaspora in their adopted nation in his address to PIO’s assembled at the Nairobi’s Kasrani stadium accompanied by the President Uhuru Kenyatta. In an apparent disapproval of venomous extremist ideologies, Modi also took an indirect dig at Zakir Naik and Pakistan for propagating and patronizing terror elements in his address to the students at the University of Nairobi. Health care is very expensive in Kenya and every year hundreds of people travel to India for specialized treatments. PM Modi pledged to build a cancer hospital offering affordable medical care and as a goodwill gesture gifted 30 field ambulances.
During his visits to Maputo, Pretoria, Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi, PM Modi deliberated on various global issues such as climate change, UN Security Council reforms and sustainable growth. PM Modi also stressed on energy security, enhancing trade and investment relations, food security, on expanding the ongoing economic engagement in areas of infrastructure development, technology, transport and agriculture. Following the liberalization of the economy in 1991, India has been steadily prompting global nations to accredit it as a key player in the region. With India shunning traditional diffidence under Modi, nations have now begun to evince interest in strengthening comprehensive ties with New Delhi.
For decades, Europe and the US have had an overwhelming presence in Africa. By the late 1960’s, China started entering the African markets by aggressively investing in infrastructure, offering soft loans to ravaged economies, ambitiously exploring natural resources and pledging to revamp connectivity. It ambitiously explored the continent, consequently, by 2009 it toppled the US to become Africa’s largest trading partner with an annual bilateral trade of $120 billion!!
Dubbed as a “neo-colonist” China’s staggering presence in Africa driven by relentless economic pursuits is truly intimidating for many African nations. Despite India’s historical linkages, shared struggles against the colonialists and a huge diaspora; India in the past frittered away several golden opportunities.
Now it can’t surpass China in trade volumes but India’s approach of multi-sectoral cooperation aimed at rehabilitation and rejuvenation of the African economies is striking all the right notes. By shunning one size fits all kind of approach towards African nations, India has learnt the right lessons. Modi’s portentous and timely outreach coupled with soft diplomacy has also strengthened political, economic, strategic ties with many of the friendly African nations. By pledging developmental and technical assistance India is certain to emerge as a reliable regional power. Through unpretentious engagement with African leaders, Modi has also garnered support for NSG membership, permanent seat at UNSC, UN reforms and Climate Change.
It is time for Africa and India to explore several new horizons with mutual respect and admiration. PM Modi has certainly started the process with his energy and all-encompassing outreach.
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