New Delhi, June 8 (ANI): The recent attacks on African nationals residing in India will not a cast a shadow over President Pranab Mukherjee's three-nation visit to Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Namibia, said a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday.
Briefing media ahead of the June 12 to June 18 state visit of the President, Secretary (ER) Amar Sinha said, "The recent attacks on African nationals residing in various parts of India has been condemned at the highest level. In fact, one of the first issues dealt with by External Affairs Minister (Mrs.) Sushma Swaraj after she recovered from a recent illness, was to meet with the envoys/ambassadors of the African nations to brief them on the steps being taken by the Indian government to sensitize the state governments about the issue, and as to what steps they had been asked to take to prevent such incidents in the future."
Mr. Sinha revealed that MEA officials had visited Rajpur Khurd in the capital where the attacks on Africans happened to assuage the angered feelings of the latter and to sensitize them about the steps being taken by the administration to prevent such incidents in the future.
"Our EAM (External Affairs Minister) has been very proactively engaging with the African ambassadors. She met the students also. We were dispatched to the village Rajpur Khurd. I went there along with MOS (Minister of State), to meet the villagers and sensitize them," he said.
He said, "Only yesterday, she has written to several chief ministers, where we have large presence of African students to sensitize them and the state administration that these are actions of individuals but it reflects on the nation. And, there is a need to take quick measures and actions in terms of both the police actions and the follow up in terms of prosecution if such incidents happen."
When pressed to elaborate on the issue, Mr. Sinha further revealed that the Ministry of External Affairs has Joint Secretary in charge of states, who also has the responsibility to brief and keep chief secretaries and police chiefs/commissioners of states informed about issues, including police cases related to foreign nationals from time-to-time.
Also Read
He said that a monitoring mechanism has been put in place to ensure that such incidents are not repeated, and added that this mechanism will have a meeting at the Minister of State level every quarter to review all steps being taken, and any changes that need to be made.
"Since we have engaged with the African HOMs (Heads of Missions) here very closely and we have kept them informed. We are also setting up a monitoring mechanism so that we don't lose sight of any incident. So, they are quite satisfied with the reaction of the Government of India. They have separately met the Delhi police commissioner and the entire department. So, we really don't feel that this will cast a shadow on our relationship," he said.
Joint Secretary in charge of East and South Africa Dr. Meena Malhotra specifically informed that the state governments of Karnataka (Bengaluru), Maharashtra (Mumbai and Pune), Tamil Nadu (Chennai), Goa and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Hyderabad) have been sensitized about issues related to African nationals.
Mr. Sinha said that the African envoys have expressed satisfaction over the government's initiatives.
"Our relationships are much on a solid foundation and we have a great historical perspective. And these governments and their authorities understand that this is not something which is being driven by the state policy. It is unfortunate that at times African students get targeted, which perhaps according to us also arises from some cultural differences. That is what we are trying to explain. And the mission is also us trying to reach out to their own communities here, to sensitize them in terms of the general behavior," he added.
During his state visit to Ghana from June 12 to 14, where he is going at the invitation of the President of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, President Mukherjee will be accompanied by a Minister of State, four Members of the Parliament, senior officials, business and a media delegation.
Mr. Sinha said President Mukherjee will be received on his arrival in Ghana capital Accra by Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur and will be given a traditional Ghanian welcome.
Thereafter, he said the President will have a one-to-one meeting with President Mahama followed by delegation-level talks. A number of agreements are under process for signing, including the setting up of a Joint Commission between India and Ghana and a renewal of an existing cultural exchange programme.
President Mukherjee, Mr. Sinha said, would also be delivering an address at the Joint Business Forum and at the University of Ghana, and would also interact with the Indian community at a reception organized by the Indian High Commissioner in his honour.
President Mukherjee, he said, will unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi gifted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations and also plant a sapling at the Flag Staff House (Ghanaian Presidential Complex), an iconic building built with the Indian assistance through a Line of Credit. President will also visit the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of ICT Excellence in Accra, set up with modest Indian assistance of USD 2.86 million. He will also pay tribute at the memorial of Ghana's former president Kwame Nkrumah.
The senior MEA official further revealed that bilateral trade and investments between India and Ghana have been steadily growing. He said that India's cumulative investments in Ghana till date have exceeded USD 1 billion and bilateral trade crossed the USD 3 billion mark in 2015-16. The focus of bilateral trade was on gold, pharmaceuticals, plastics, textiles, steel rice and wheat, he said, adding that a key feature of the ties was the developmental partnership worth around half-a-billion dollars.
President Mahama, he said, will also host a state banquet in honour of President Mukherjee and the accompanying delegation.
Mr. Sinha said that after completing his two-day visit to Ghana, President Mukherjee will pay an official visit to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire from the afternoon of June 14 to 15 at the invitation of President Alassane Ouattara.
This will be the first ever high-level visit from India to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, he said.
Mr. Sinha said that India and Cote d'Ivoire enjoy warm and friendly relations, sharing common values of democracy, development and secularism. He added that bilateral relations are marked by mutual respect and understanding.
India and Cote d'Ivoire bilateral trade grew from USD 344.99 million in 2010-11 to USD 841.85 million in 2014-15. India, with in the rubric of South-South Cooperation, has extended lines of credit amounting to USD 156.3 million to the Government of Cote d'Ivoire for developmental projects in diverse fields such as public transportation, rural electrification, rice self-sufficiency, cashew nut processing, vegetable oil processing, coconut fibre processing, fisheries processing etc. and Mahatma Gandhi IT and Bio-technology Park.
During his stay in Cote d'Ivoire, the president will have a one-to-one meeting with President Ouattara followed by delegation level talks. President Mukherjee would be conferred the National Order of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, the highest Order of the country and would also be handed over the Key to the city of Abidjan.
The agreement regarding opening of EXIM Bank Representative/Regional in Abidjan would be handed over in presence of both presidents. President Mukherjee would also address a Joint Business Forum and also interact with the Indian community before emplaning for Namibia on June 15.
Insofar as the visit to Namibia is concerned, Mr. Sinha said that an Indian Head of State is visiting that country after 21 years, and added that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was the last Indian Head of Government to visit Namibia.