Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

Third India Africa Forum Summit: Key Outcomes

Ruchita Beri
He worked at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses from 1991 to 2023 read more
Commentary

India hosted the third India Africa Forum Summit from October 26-30, 2015. This summit was important on three counts. First, it was the largest gathering of African countries on Indian soil. This meeting brought together representatives from all 54 African countries, including 40 Heads of States, to contemplate on ways and means to take this close partnership forward. Second, it presented the occasion for the African countries to reiterate the special nature of the relationship with India. In words of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, “Africa has a number of partnership arrangements with other countries of the world, but this promises to be different as it is not only a partnership between friends, but between countries and peoples who have had similar historical experiences of colonial rule.” 1 Third, this summit called for greater cooperation between India and Africa towards sustainable development, agricultural growth, energy access, blue economy, education, skills enhancement and peace and security.

Sustainable Development

This summit reaffirmed that development cooperation is the cornerstone of India-Africa partnership. This is reflected first and foremost in the theme, “Partners in progress: towards a dynamic and transformative development agenda.” The summit calls for India and Africa working together towards an inclusive economic growth to eradicate poverty and allocate resources for sustainable development as defined in Africa’s agenda 2063 and its first ten year implementation plan as well as the sustainable development goals under the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the development priorities of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that India is ‘honoured’ to be development partner for Africa.2 Since the first India Africa Forum Summit in 2008, India has committed 7.4 billion dollars in concessional credit for nearly 140 projects in 40 African countries. It has also provided 1.2 billion dollars in grant to African countries. It is also involved in creating 100 capacity building institutions in Africa.

During the current summit, India gave a push towards enhancing cooperation in this crucial area by offering additional 10 billion US dollars in concessional credit over the next five years. It has also offered a grant assistance of 600 million US dollars. This will include an India Africa Development Fund of 10 million US dollars.3

Agricultural Growth

India has recognised that Africa has 60 percent of the world’s arable land. So agriculture can drive the continent’s economic growth. In this regard during the summit both sides agreed to further increase cooperation in improving farming techniques through appropriate and affordable technology, improving crop varieties and other measures. At the same time they have decided to jointly work towards evolving efficient methods of water management and irrigation. Both India and African countries also called for raising the investments in agribusiness and food processing industry.

Energy Access

Access to sustainable energy for all is one of the major challenges facing the world today. An estimated 1.3 billion people across the world do not have access to electricity. Of these, about 634 million are in Africa and 237 million in India.4 The lack of modern and clean sources of energy is increasingly perceived as a vital impediment for sustainable growth in both Africa and India. It is no wonder that the third India Africa Forum Summit strived to intensify cooperation in renewable energy sources, such as, wind, hydroelectricity, geothermal and solar. In a bid to move away from the polluting fossil fuels, Prime Minister Modi also mooted the idea of a global solar alliance during the summit. This alliance would bring together 121 tropical countries also called “sunshine nations”, including those from Africa, to share technology and raise funding from member countries and international agencies.5

Blue Economy

In recent years, a global debate has emerged on the importance of blue economy for sustainable economic development. The concept of blue economy primarily refers to “all economic activities related to the ocean seas and coasts”.6 The focus is on sustainable economic development of the ocean resources. India has recognised that the livelihood of a large sections of people in India and Africa are dependent on oceans which have emerged as new frontiers of development. Therefore the summit called for greater cooperation through training, capacity building and joint projects.7

Education and Skill Enhancement

In May 2015, the African Union launched the Africa Agenda 2063, a 50 year plan to rejuvenate the continent. This plan aspires, among other things, to have well educated people and a skills’ revolution by the year 2063 within the African continent. Recognising the African needs in this field India has offered to further its partnership in this crucial area. During the summit the Prime Minister Modi noted that “two thirds of India and two thirds of Africa is under the age of 35 years” and that the “future belongs to the youth”.8 Therefore India proposed to cooperate in education and training in areas such as: information technology, agriculture, engineering, small and medium entrepreneurship, health and science. India has also pledged to provide 50,000 scholarships in India to African students in the next five years and set up institutions that help augmenting African capacities across the continent.9

Peace and Security

Over the years, endemic conflicts have contributed to economic decline and added to the suffering of the people in Africa. The key drivers of conflict are poor governance, political and ethnic exclusion, poverty, unequal distribution of resources, terrorism and violent extremism etc. India recognised that peace and security is essential for Africa’s development and progress. It has been reported that in 2014 Africa accounted for more than half of worldwide conflict incidents.10

The good news is that these conflicts are limited to certain specific regions and countries of the fifty four-nation continent. African countries have taken initiatives to ameliorate this situation. Since 2002 they have developed the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). This includes instruments such as the Peace and Security Council, Continental Early Warning Programme, African Standby force and a Panel of Wise to deal with any crisis on the continent. However the ambitious APSA has been only been marginally successful in resolving or preventing conflict in the region.11 On May 2010, the African countries pledged to end the wars on the continent by the year 2020. This initiative called “Silencing of Guns by 2020” is a key priority area under AU’s Agenda 2063. During the third India Africa summit, India has promised to intensify its efforts to keep peace in Africa. This will be possible through supporting African efforts in diverse fields, such as, peace keeping training, maritime and space security, countering terrorism and sharing best practices in dealing with cybersecurity.12

In addition to the inking of new initiative such as the solar alliance, blue economy, peacekeeping training and cyber security, the summit ended with an agreement to set up a monitoring mechanism that will evaluate the implementation of the projects planned during the summit.13 It is hoped that India will work towards delivering all the promises made in New Delhi.

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