Diplomatist Magazine Africa Day Special 2018 | Page 9

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
By Amb. (Retd.) Debnath Shaw
T
he title aptly proclaims, “India in Africa”. In
other words, India is not a new entrant in this
huge and diversifi ed continent. Unfortunately,
historians and scholars have not been able to keep
pace with the sustained penetration of India’s skilled
and unskilled workers, professionals, and traders into
vast swathes of Africa, particularly in the English
speaking parts, over the last two centuries. The
relationship between India and Africa was largely a
one-way journey of human beings in search of jobs
and business opportunities, which continued unabated
for almost two centuries until the fi rst half of the 20th
Century, on the basis of shared history and ideological
empathy. Since the middle of the last century, after
India gained independence from colonial rule as did
many parts of Africa, the relationship evolved into one
of South-South cooperation.
Since independence in 1947, and even before, India
has developed substantial and substantive interaction
with the African region in several areas. India took a
major initiative in 2008 to turn the existing rela tionship
into a partnership in the form of the India–Africa
Forum Summits (IAFS). Our approach has been one
of strengthening South-South linkages and promoting
self-reliance through capacity building programmes
and transfer of technologies appropriate to the needs
of our African partners. In recent years, we have made
a small beginning in procuring funding resources
for African partner countries both bilaterally and
multilaterally. We also work with the African Union
and the regional economic commissions (RECs) in
development projects through grants and concessional
loans. In tandem with the Indian government's effort
to step up our traditional historical and civilisational
relations with Africa, private individuals and entities
from India have also made inroads into this dynamic
region which is fast forging itself as one of the leading
poles in a multi-polar world.
India’s bilateral trade with Africa has jumped from
around $2 billion in 2000 to an estimated $52 billion in
2016-17 (down from a peak of $70 billion in 2012-13).
Public investment commitments in Africa in the form of
grants and LOCs has crossed $10 billion since IAFS-I
in 2008. Cumulative investments from India to Africa
from April 1996 to March 2017 are estimated to be
almost $60 billion. Indian oil and gas E&P majors have
a huge presence in Sudan, Ivory Coast, Libya, Egypt,
Nigeria, Gabon, and Mozambique and, hopefully, in
the future in Tanzania as well. Indian interests in coal
and other minerals exist in South Africa, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana, etc.
At the IAFS-III in October 2015, India pledged to
provide over 50,000 scholarships through ITEC and
other programmes to participating African countries
over the next fi ve years. In the previous three years,
nearly 25,000 young Africans had received academic
and practical training on a host of subjects in India.
India also agreed to hand hold the Pan-African
E-Network for another couple of years, having
established and run the project for fi ve years already.
International cooperation between India and Africa
goes far beyond aid. It includes, inter alia, the sharing
of development experiences for building human and
physical infrastructural capabilities in Africa. Training
programmes and the implementation of capacity
building institutions are being set up based on requests
from partner countries.
Food security, high oil prices, and climate change
are the top concerns of developing countries today. India
and the African continent are destined to walk together
along the path of development, prosperity and ensuring
the welfare of its peoples for a long time to come. 
2018 • Africa Day Special • 5