29/05/2020 - International Relations

IAS Parliament 4 years

KEY POINTS

· Africa’s rich natural resources, long-term economic potential, youthful demography and influence as a bloc of 54 countries in multi-lateral organisations is apparent. In recent years, several extra-regional economies have strengthened their engagement with African states, with an eye to rising economic opportunities, including in energy, mining, infrastructure and connectivity.

· India-Africa trade reached $62 billion in 2018 compared to $39 billion during 2009-10. After South Asia, Africa is the second-largest recipient of Indian overseas assistance with Lines of Credit (LOC) worth nearly $10 billion (42 per cent of the total) spread over 100 projects in 41 countries.

· Ties were boosted at the India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) in 2015. Forty per cent of all training and capacity building slots under the ITEC programme have traditionally been reserved for Africa.

· There are several other ideas that could be pushed to deepen India’s engagement with Africa. The Ministry of External Affairs has already extended the e-ITEC course on “COVID-19 Pandemic: Prevention and Management Guidelines for Healthcare Professionals” to healthcare workers in Africa.

· The Aarogya Setu App and the E-Gram Swaraj App for rural areas for mapping COVID-19 are technological achievements that could be shared with Africa. Since the movement of African students to India for higher education has been disrupted, India may expand the e-VidyaBharti (tele education) project to establish an India-Africa Virtual University.

· Agriculture and food security can also be a fulcrum for deepening ties. With the locust scourge devastating the Horn of Africa and the pandemic worsening the food crisis, India could ramp up its collaboration in this sector.

· India could also create a new fund for Africa and adapt its grant-in-aid assistance to reflect the current priorities. This could include support for new investment projects by Indian entrepreneurs especially in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors in Africa.

Aradhana Tiwari 4 years

Covid-19 pandemic may create opportunities to deepen India’s engagement with different nations of the world. India has been closely associated with Africa on account of its shared colonial past, rich contemporary ties and with a sense of deep solidarity.

>>> India can create fresh opportunities renergise its engagement with Africa in various ways :

- India could "create a new fund for Africa and adapt its grant-in-aid assistance" to reflect the current priorities with respect to corona crisis.

- This could include support for "new investment projects" by Indian entrepreneurs especially in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors in Africa.

- Tarnished chinese image due to defective supplies of PPE gear and discriminatory behaviour by China against various Africans nations, provide a ground to India for a "robust health sector diplomacy" in the wake of the pandemic.

- India could consider structuring a series of virtual summits with African leaders as a "platform for a cooperative response to the pandemic and a precursor to the actual summit in the future".

- With the locust scourge devastating the Horn of Africa and the pandemic worsening the food crisis, India could ramp up its collaboration in "agriculture and food security".

- African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) to boost intra-African trade, serve as an opportunity for India to boost trade and economic ties with Africa.

- India could also help the African countries to bridge the digital divide. India has launched "e-VidhyaBharati and e-ArogyaBharati Network Project (E-VBAB)" to provide free tele-education, free medical education to doctors/nurses/paramedics and free medical consultancy.

The engagement of two is not limited only to the bilateral political level. They have a comprehensive diplomatic mechanisms at all three levels - continental, regional and bilateral and through multilateral fora.

>>> Conclusion :

The COVID-19 pandemic is a colossal challenge but it may create fresh opportunities to bring India and Africa closer together as India's partnership with Africa is free of conditionalities and totally demand driven.