[ [SPECIAL
S P E C I A L REPORT]
R E P O R T ]
By AMBASSADOR DR. V. B. SONI*
“
India and Africa share a Deep Bond of Friendship, Forged by History, Common
Challenges and a shared journey on the Path of Progress
A
– Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
s Nigeria and India are poised to celebrate 60 years
of establishing diplomatic relations in 1958, it is time
to refl ect on how bilateral relations between the two
countries have grown over the last six decades. There is much
to be satisfi ed over this period but a lot more remains to be
done as the potential has barely been touched.
Africa and India have had historical linkages. The
centuries-old relationship between India and the countries
in African has always been warm and dynamic.
The current re-engagement between Africa and India
is further intensifying in diversified security, political,
diplomatic, cultural, and economic fields. Common
challenges like food security, energy, climate change,
peacekeeping and international security from global
22 • Nigeria-India• 2018
”
terrorism and organised crime, and piracy are the issues that
have brought them closer.
The India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) initiated in 2008
has turned out to be a defi ning moment in charting out a
well-thought-out strategy on how to steer this fast developing
relationship into something concrete and enduring, with a
well-defi ned roadmap at par with the rising aspirations and
expectations of the peoples of the either continents.
Framework for Strategic Cooperation was agreed upon at
the third Summit in New Delhi in October 2015.
India has helped Africa through $7.4 billion in concessional
credit and $1.2 billion in grant since 2008; training of 25,000
young Africans in India in the past three years; the process of
creating 100 capacity building Institutions; and developing