Remember Gondwana? Addressing the first India-Africa forum summit in New Delhi in 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh referred to Africa as India’s “mother continent”! The waters of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea kept people on both sides connected for centuries and when the Europeans entered these waters in search of India, they reconnected the two continents in new ways. With decolonisation and development, India and the many republics of Africa re-established political and economic links. The long stretch of historical links has meant that close to three million people of Indian origin live on the African continent. India’s consistent support for Africa’s struggle against apartheid cemented close ties between the two sides. However, as India opened up to the world economy in the 1990s, its attention was diverted away from Africa to Asia to its east and to the West. With trade, investment and people flows becoming an integral part of India’s foreign policy, Africa’s profile declined, until Africa turned itself around to become the new emerging economy of the 21st century.
As this paper’s columnist Shankar Acharya’s column brought out so vividly (May 12), Africa is also rising, along with Asia, and a clutch of “emerging economies” is creating new economic opportunities for India. Mr Acharya cited a World Bank study that identified five fundamental factors contributing to the rise of new emerging economies in Africa. These are: the rise of democracy and improved governance; much better economic policies; the end of the African debt crisis and improved donor relations; the rise of new technologies (especially mobile telephony, where India has tapped into in a big way); and the emergence of a new generation of leaders and voters. Both Ethiopia and Tanzania, the two countries that Prime Minister Singh will visit this week, figure among the top in the list of Africa’s high-growth economies — their per capita gross domestic product grew at the rate of 4.1 and 3.0 respectively in the period 1996-2008. This is an impressive record by any standards.
India has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to reconnect with Africa, as our correspondent Nayanima Basu reported last week (May 19). It has graduated from extending aid and trade concessions to encouraging Indian companies to invest in Africa in a big way, creating jobs for the locals and helping local enterprise grow in the process. While China has sent in its public sector companies with thousands of workers and hundreds of managers, causing some local resentment, India has encouraged its private sector to take the lead. Several major Indian business groups now have important Africa operations, and the businesses range from resource extraction to information technology and modern industry. Indian companies have sent in only minimal expatriate staff, preferring to work with local businesses and workers. This has so far stood India in good stead and created a comfort level at which it must widen and deepen its relationship with the continent. Going beyond trade and investment, India must encourage increased people-to-people contact and help improve air and maritime connectivity. There are far too few African students studying in India. Racism in India is often a major hurdle that Africans must cross. The media must play an active role in curbing colour and racial prejudice in India. Connectivity, too, must improve, making it easier for students, business persons and tourists to travel back and forth. Prime Minister Singh’s visit to Ethiopia and Tanzania and his participation in the largest-ever India-Africa summit should help reconnect an umbilical cord!
