Focusing on the need for India, Africa and other developing countries to work together, the government on Sunday said that all three have to work “hand-in-hand”’ in the COP 21 on climate change in Paris in December and in the 10th WTO ministerial meet in Kenya “to ensure that our development agenda is not affected”.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the India-Africa Editors Forum, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said, “We have sought to complement our needs with each other’s strengths,” adding that in the last 15 years, India’s trade with Africa has gone up 20 times and today stands at more than $70 billion. Besides, India also has a total investment of $30-35 billion in Africa.
“We have managed to extend concessional credit to the tune of $ 7.4 billion. Most of this credit stands approved and at least half has already been disbursed. Through credit lines, India has partnered Africa in creating 137 projects in 41 countries,” she added.
Expressing hope that the 3rd edition of the India-Africa Forum Summit would focus on building people to people ties, Ethiopian ambassador to India Gennet Zewide said, “There is hardly any awareness about Africa in India or about its diverse people and culture, though many in Africa know about India.”
Zewide, the dean of the about 45-strong African diplomatic corps in New Delhi, also said that the October 26-29 summit will focus on the “negative media coverage” about African students in India and find ways to deal with it. “I believe there should be pro-active engagement between Africa and India. Positive perception is needed of Africa in India. Africa has 54 countries, Africa is diverse. We are economically diverse, language-wise diverse, culturally diverse. So it is time we should have a people-to-people kind of relationship, which has to be strengthened.”
The external affairs minister also said that it is “inconceivable” that the United Nations Security Council does not have any permanent representation from Africa which is the largest continent (in terms of the number of countries).”
“It is also incomprehensible that India, which represents almost one-sixth of the world’s population and has all the credentials to be a permanent member of the Security Council, is still out of it. We all need to work together to remove this anomaly,” said Swaraj.
“Our media fraternity has bravely shouldered the burden of making our two societies aware of commonalities. The relationships between the African and Indian media must be placed on the bedrock of grass-roots empowerment,” Swaraj said.
Earlier in the day, Swaraj inaugurated the India-Africa Friendship Rose Garden ahead of the third India-Africa summit, which begins on Monday and is to be attended by 54 leaders from the region.
Each of the 42 African envoys in New Delhi planted a rose sapling, along with Swaraj, in the rose garden, which will be maintained by the New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC).
The idea is to plant roses of different varieties and colours so that once the roses are in full bloom, they present a riot of colours symbolising the increasingly colourful and fragrant relationship between India and Africa, at a time when the resource-rich continent is being looked at as the land of opportunities by the international community.