Oct 1-15, 2018
Of late, there are vigorous activities for strengthening India-Africa ties-political, business, cultural, social- and you name any, initiatives are opening before us.
India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) was launched in 2008 in New Delhi as the first official platform to bring the two regions closely. The second summit was held in Addis Ababa in 2011 three years hence as scheduled. The third IAFS held in New Delhi in October 2015 had the presence of over 40 heads of state and top functionaries from the continent. The momentum generated by the Third Indo-African Summit was carefully maintained through regular high-level visits by the President, Prime Minister and other top functionaries.
Before we proceed to set the stage for the next summit, which should be round the corner, going by the once in three year periodicity, some stock taking is highly desirable.
Summits and political entourages alone cannot sustain the spirit of partnerships between nations, given the diversity and size of the African continent. A more sector and region specific approach may be ideal. People – centric projects will bring immense goodwill and a region specific approach within Africa will build enduring partnerships. Each region in Africa is distinct from the other and India’s diversity offers immense scope for partnerships. Southern part of India share a lot of similarities with East African economies and can complement and supplement each other. Similarly, states like UP, Bihar etc. have a lot of cultural affinities with Mauritius, Madagascar etc .Efforts should be made to leverage these opportunities for mutually beneficial business interests.
One challenge faced by IAFS for holding a meaningful business dialogue is the near absence of representative apex industry association in Africa to drive the business component. While India has multiple apex industry associations jostling together to take the reins, Africa’s continental structure offers no effective counterpart Industry body to take the initiatives to the logical end. A regional approach will address this issue to a great extent. India should also endeavour to build trilateral partnerships with countries like Japan , France etc to optimise its regional foot print in Africa.
