Time to cement India-Africa ties

Here, one is talking of a relationship between India and 53 nations with varying ideas, aspirations, needs and capacities, each one having differing priorities and concerns. It is complex. Much of the context has changed today.

But poverty, illiteracy, lack of housing and healthcare are there, added by new issues like terrorism and climate change. These were among the issues that figured at the 3rd summit. Moving from non-alignment to multi-alignment, and reaching out to the big powers as it gathers economic clout, adding to its geopolitical importance, India’s focus on the developing world is perceived as having wavered. The 3rd summit should be seen as a bid for course correction

The third India-Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi, the largest gathering of African leaders outside their continent – including some 40 heads of states/governments, many with their First Ladies – is a renewed bid by India to respond to the hopes and aspirations of a rising Africa.

Its success would lie not just in hosting them and in exchange of ideas, but also in the follow-up measures and how the resolutions made will be put into practice. For, critics have complained with some justification that relatively little had been done in concrete terms after and in between the earlier summits.

Here, one is talking of a relationship between India and 53 nations with varying ideas, aspirations, needs and capacities, each one having differing priorities and concerns. It is complex.

That these nations, though long past their freedom from colonisation, remain still influenced by their former masters is a given. And that everyone is operating in a complex, fast-changing global environment is another, inescapable, reality. These go for India as well.

Among the first to gain freedom, India unleashed the decolonisation process that lasted the longest in Africa. Anti-colonial and anti-West outlook brought India and Africa closer, many of them becoming part of the non-aligned movement (NAM). Jawaharlal Nehru’s India befriended Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah. In subsequent years, it supported the war in Vietnam and opposed apartheid in South Africa. Kenya’s Jomo Kenyata and Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere were friends. Nonagenarian Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who attended the 3rd summit straddles the two eras.

Much of the context has changed today. But poverty, illiteracy, lack of housing and healthcare are there, added by new issues like terrorism and climate change. These were among the issues that figured at the 3rd summit. Moving from non-alignment to multi-alignment, and reaching out to the big powers as it gathers economic clout, adding to its geopolitical importance, India’s focus on the developing world is perceived as having wavered. The 3rd summit should be seen as a bid for course-correction.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government organised the big show, candidly admitted that India, at times, hasn’t been able to deliver on African expectations. Indeed, it has a chequered record of failing to meet its well-intentioned commitments, and not just to the Africans. However, he affirmed that the future is India’s and Africa’s to shape. The sense of a common destiny was the highlight of the summit.

The African leaders had come with their wish lists that could grow, provided India moves to fulfill them. For instance, Cameroon sought India’s help in fighting the Boko Haram terror group which has spread from Nigeria to other African countries. South Sudan asked for Indian assistance in managing livestock. Cape Verde asked for Indian help with reconstruction on one of its islands destroyed in a volcanic eruption, whereas South Africa pushed for defence technology development.

Modi announced a $10 billion concessional credit over the next five years in addition to $7.4 billion committed in the past. However, for India, the ground reality is that other players like China and South Korea with deeper pockets are already there spending and building big. Modi spoke of 4,00,000 new businesses registered in Africa in 2013 and rapid strides the continent is making in education, agriculture and healthcare.

It is a rising Africa India must deal with. Fifteen countries, with a 30 per cent share in Africa’s GDP, monitored by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, rank higher than India. Mauritius leads the pack at rank 32 — ahead of Japan and Italy, followed by economic powerhouse South Africa and tiny Rwanda, which weathered its 1990s ethnic crisis spectacularly.

India would have to recognise their limitations as well and work accordingly. For instance, in Nigeria, oil and gas account for 80 per cent of the state’s revenue, and 95 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings. Angola’s exports are worth around 65 per cent of its GDP, and oil comprises 98 per cent of total exports.

Even South Africa, the most diverse and developed African economy, remains heavily resource-dependent. Its gold industry has been in decline for the last couple of years as shafts plunge deeper, ore grades decline and costs climb, knocking it from the world’s biggest producer to number five, according to the World Gold Council. In spite of this, precious minerals such as gold, platinum and diamond remained almost 14 per cent of its exports.

With most of Africa relying on revenues from commodities and natural resources exports, it is clearly not sustainable, given the rapid cooling of commodity prices. Africa should, instead, advocate a forward integration approach in mining, wherein there exists scope for value addition of minerals, such as metals processing in the country where it is being mined. Hence, it is time to pursue a targeted strategy that focuses on mitigating the reliance on mining. Ironically, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, generates less electricity than tiny Singapore, despite possessing huge gas reserves. Africa desperately needs to improve its infrastructure to fulfil its potential in manufacturing.

India will have to ‘touch’ Africans beyond importing their raw materials and exporting cheap machinery, cars, chemicals and pharmaceuticals to them. Indian business is way ahead of this strategy. It sees Africa as a popular investment destination given the ease of doing business there at higher margins. South African President Jacob Zuma has already sounded the battle cry of “Make in South Africa”.

The traditional Indian settled in Africa has been into jobs, trade and some of the industries, but not into infrastructure. The scene is changing, but slowly. Indian telecom companies are moving in. But Africa needs roads and airports and much else. The possibilities are limitless.

India pushed for coordinated action on UN reforms, seeking a permanent seat for itself at the Security Council, and in multilateral issues like climate change. There has been little coordination on these issues in the past.

In Africa, awareness about India is poor. To make itself known, India should launch a TV channel and beam it across Africa, not just to sell its movies and soap operas, but wrap along with them what it can do to develop African economies. That would raise its profile in the continent. It is essential because there is hardly any media presence, of India in Africa and vice versa. Having think-tanks in each other’s universities would serve well.

Carrying the 2.7 million diaspora along is crucial if India wants to make a significant presence in Africa. India needs a combination of economic and ‘soft’ diplomacy to achieve ‘hard’ political and diplomatic advantages.