India and the African continent

• Intro:India and the African continent have been linked for centuries through trade, commerce and travel across the Indian Ocean

• cooperation:
• The spirit of “developing as equals” defines this bilateral.
• India’s partnership with Africa is based on a model of cooperation which is responsive to the needs of African countries. It is demand driven and free of conditionalities.
• Cooperation based on 10 guiding principles of India-Africa engagement listed by PM Modi in his speech to Ugandan parliament like-
• Deepening of engagement
• Capacity building
• Digital cooperation
• Agriculture cooperation
• India has partnered with African development bank
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• $5.6T of market opportunity- IMF
• India is Africa's fifth largest investor - $54 B with a bilateral trade of $66B
• 180 LOC to 44 countries amounting to $11 Billion
• Under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative, we have supplied 24.7 million doses of Made in India COVID vaccines as grants, and commercial and COVAX supplies to 42 countries in Africa.”
• these developments are indicative of the growing alignment between India’s growth agenda and Africa’s Agenda 2063, the African Union’s development goals for the next half-century,
• Project Mausam of ministry of culture which seeks to realise lost linkages with the Indian Ocean world.
• Digital connectivity under pan African e network project, e-Aaryogya bharati and e-Vidya bharati
• India’s development assistance spans across 51/54 countries with 10000 Africans getting trained in India annually
• SAGAR, IORA,IONS
• Blue economy for growth and development of India and Africa
• Indian ocean dialogue
• India’s observer status at Indian ocean commission.
• HADR, anti piracy ops
• India is a supplier of generic medicines and refined petroleum to African countries.
• e-ITEC-COVID19 initiative helped at training health practitioners Of Africa.
• Mission Vanilla to provide help to cyclone affected Madagascar
• A tanzanian leader said “ All the hospitals have been built by the chinese, all the nurses and doctors trained by the Indians.”
• Indian peacekeeping forces at UN peacekeeping
• More than 30000 Indians
• ONGC has stakes in south Sudan and Mozambique oil exploration.
• Team -9 countries, that have been till now ignored : Ghana, Mali (8+1)
• Barefoot college in Rajasthan provides skill building to women from Africa
• Ind-SAT exam for students of Asia and Africa under study in India programme
• 54 votes of UNSC
• “India's own quest for reforms in the global institutions is  incomplete without an equal place for Africa. That will be a key purpose of our foreign policy.” - Modi in Ugandan parliament
• Gateway house report- It is essential to impart a 21st century complexion to the partnership with Africa involving health,space and digital technologies.

• India vs china in Africa-
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• Issues:
• India Africa-$62B, China-Africa $220B, 
• China’s first overseas base has come up in Djibouti
• India’s Africa policy lacks a coherence. It has been request based rather than initiative based.
• India needs to strengthen its diplomatic presence by increasing embassies and set up its engagement with Indian diaspora

• Way forward:
• Rather than playing a game of catch up with China, India must employ its own unique strength in Africa
• Shyam saran in his book how India sees the world says - with half of the world’s top 10 fastest growing economies, Africa is the continent of the future.
• Fresh financial resources for grants and concessional loans to Africa must be allocated as previous allocations are almost fully exhausted. In the words of RB “without new commitments,India’s Africa policy would be like a car running on a near empty fuel tank.”
• India can partner with EU and Quad countries for a robust partnership plan for Africa

• Conclusion: SJ- A historical solidarity is today a modern partnership