Indo-African Conclave Generates
Whopping US$17 billion business
Partnership At A New Pinnacle

The partnership between India and Africa has touched a new pinnacle with the just concluded Conclave 2006, generating an estimated US$17 billion, three times more than the business worth US$ 5 billion discussed at a similar gathering in the previous year. Scores of projects have been discussed during the three-day Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership, organized jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Ministry of External Affairs. The Export Import Bank of India was an active participant, being a major catalyst in promoting bilateral trade between India and the African continent. The Conclave, the second in a series, was attended by over 350 overseas and 400 Indian delegates.

The projects covered during the current Conclave are in the areas of infrastructure (ports, railways, power and energy, transport and telecom), agriculture (post-harvest processing), education (skills development), water and sanitation, health, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), minerals and metals, construction and Information and Communications Technology (ICT). For the first time, the Conclave included delegates from the Francophone region of Africa. All these projects, which will be executed in due course will involve an investment of US $ 17 billion.
Several SMEs from both India and Africa have joined hands. A number of these are companies involved in agro-processing and engineering areas. Overall, new partnerships have emerged, new relationships built and friendships cemented.
Speaking at the valedictory session of the Conclave, Joint Secretary for Africa, N Chauhan said the relationship between India and Africa needed to be institutionalized and widened to include economic, political, cultural and other relations. This conclave, the second in a series that began in 2005 as part of the Focus Africa programme of the Indian government, reflects the growing importance of Africa to India.
”India needs agricultural products and natural resources for its rapidly-growing economy and this has been one of the drivers of the growth in trade. Technology transfer, trade and capacity building are the three legs of the tripod of bilateral ties,” Chauhan said.
There is now an enhanced possibility of Indian participation in African projects, particularly in the sectors of services, trade, manufacturing, telecommunications, banking and insurance, Ms. Chauhan said. The Infrastructure Consortium of Africa has allowed Indian companies to bid for large projects.
India has launched a slew of initiatives to boost ties with Africa. These include the Pan African E-Network for tele-medicine and tele-education, bilateral and multilateral lines of credit through restructuring of commercial debt and has executed several infrastructure projects in African countries, she said.
In addition, India can share its expertise in setting up a Pan-African Commodities Exchange, drawing on its experience on similar exchanges in India, Ms. Chauhan said. It can also assist Africa in setting up a Pan-African stock exchange that will consolidate the activities of 28 exchanges on the continent and speed up economic development.
India has become a food exporter, from being an importer, she said. It can help Africa in the fields of agro-engineering and water resources management to shore up its agricultural sector. India has become part of the African Capacity Building Initiative, the first Asian country to do so, and is well placed to launch human resources development and training programmes in African countries.
Another major area of engagement is promoting democracy, Ms. Chauhan said. Through the Global Democracy Initiative, India works to strengthen democratic institutions, reform civil services and assist in holding free and fair elections. It has also participated in peacekeeping operations in several African countries, and currently Indian soldiers serve under the United Nations banner in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and the Congo.
CII's Chief Mentor Tarun Das reiterated Ms. Chauhan's statement to institutionalize ties with Africa. “There is need for long term, ethical partnerships based on trust and credibility,” he said.
The Conclave presented newer opportunities to work together in the fields of infrastructure, transport, minerals, etc. There is now need to explore newer avenues of finance. “Indian private banks could step in to supplement the efforts of the Export-Import Bank of India and finance the cooperation between the two regions,” Das said.
CII will arrange for meetings between Indian and African delegations in different parts of India to facilitate the fast-growing relationship between the two regions, he said. Some of the themes that these will focus on are skills development, human resources development and training.
During the Conclave, the Exim Bank extended a fresh line of credit of US$10 million to the PTA Bank in Africa. This is in addition to the 37 Lines of Credit amounting to $1.37 billion already extended by the Exim Bank to various African countries, covering areas such as Agriculture, transportation, steel and cement industry.
Earlier this year, the Exim Bank had signed a $250 million Line of Credit with the ECOWAS bank for Investment and Development purposes. These lines of credit will have a multiplier effect as the technical and professional capabilities of Indian Business as also its global competitiveness will become familiar to Africa.
Exim Bank of India has been participating in the developmental process in Africa not only by providing funding support such as Lines of Credit which currently amount to US$ 1.4 billion for financing projects in the sectors like agriculture, transportation, power generation and distribution, railway, rural electrification and infrastructure but also by promoting and financing manufacturing and capacity building activities in Africa.
The enthusiastic response to the “India-Africa Project Partnership 2005: Expanding Horizons” (Nov 6-8) held in New Delhi underscored huge potential for further expansion of business and trade relations between the two sides. It was attended by 160 delegates from 32 African countries and led to over 600 one-to-one meetings between them and Indian entrepreneurs. Over 70 projects, estimated to be worth US$ 5 billion, were discussed at the Conclave.
The first initiative was taken earlier in 2005 (March 2-4) to develop a model for promoting partnership between the government and the private sector for enhancing India's participation in the development priorities of African countries. The March meeting was also a big draw, leading to advance information on 178 projects valued at $ 6 billion and the signing of 12 MoUs.
India-Africa bilateral trade had been growing steadily, rising from $ 967 million in 1990-91 to 9.14 billion in 2004-05. India's exports to Africa had risen from $ 394 million in 1990-91 to $ 5.4 billion in 2004-05, accounting for 6.8 per cent of India's total exports. And given the vitality of African economy, which registered an all-time high in combined real GDP in 2005, India's trade and business relationship with Africa could only grow further.
India has taken up the Pan-African e- network Project for establishing e-connectivity in all 53 countries of the African Union. The focus will be on tele-medicine and tele-education facilities from specialized institutes in India to remote learning and medical centers in each African nation.
Earlier, addressing the Conclave, MEA Secretary Shashi U Tripathi said India aimed at developing a greater political and economic understanding with countries on the African continent. "We need to respond with more alacrity to the demands of the African countries," she said.
According to Ms. Tripathi, the strategy for the further development of Africa is based on the building block approach with greater stress on the administrative practices and financial assistance.
CII and the COMESA Business Council (CBC) also signed a Memorandum of Understanding in order to promote technical cooperation in all fields of economic activity. These areas of cooperation include agriculture and mineral products, infrastructure development, exchange of information, collaboration in strengthening the business community and development of small and medium enterprises.
Under the MoU, both CII and CBC agree to establish and review working relationship, facilitate exchange of information and data on patterns of trade, investment and technology flows, promote contacts and cooperation, exchange information on policies and procedures relating to industrial, investment, trade and private sector partnership, collaborate in identifying potential business and public institutions, provide forums for continuous consultations among business communities, match and facilitate twinning arrangements with various regional and international bodies, lastly increase of India- COMESA commerce and investment.
Such measures will help boost credibility of African countries among Indian business, said Chief Mentor, CII, Tarun Das. In turn, Indian companies will help develop African human and natural resources. "We have a new energy growing between Africa and India. The process is at work and is moving steadily.”
India and Africa, which together account for over half of the world's humanity, have an age-old special relationship that is in the process of being given a new thrust by closer collaboration in all-important areas of technology, trade and training.
This is in fact the new triumvirate that underpins the architecture of India-Africa relationship and has given a new resonance to South-South cooperation.
The synergies between the two sides are mutually reinforcing. Africa is the emerging market for Indian products and enterprise and an alternative source of energy security for India. And for Africa, India is a shining example how democracy and development can fuse harmoniously.
There is a new mood of buoyancy and optimism as modern India seeks to collaborate with a resurgent Africa to create a new world order. Ideology, redolent of an earlier era of a shared struggle against colonialism and imperialism, has been tempered with pragmatism and a sober realization of new challenges facing both India and Africa as they get ready to take their place under the global sun.
The result is a reinventing and rejuvenation of an old relationship in which technology reliable and affordable is going to play an increasingly important role. And nowhere was this new trend better reflected and epitomized than in the ambitious Pan-African Network that seeks to electronically connect 53 countries of the African Union, which was launched in October this year.
The brainchild of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the PAN, which seeks to provide benefits of telemedicine and tele-education to 53 African countries, is expected to revolutionize communication through Africa and further replenish a huge reservoir of mutual goodwill that exists on both sides.
This is not to discount the importance of a rich shared past of high principles and idealism when the India-Africa solidarity was forged and cemented by a belief in the ideals of the non-aligned movement. But the world of today is radically different from the time when most of African countries were still reeling under the yoke of colonial domination and requires a refocusing of energies and efforts to meet emerging opportunities.

Indian Initiatives
The result is a series of Indian initiatives to enhance economic and political cooperation with Africa. India has announced a Line of Credit of $ 200 million to assist the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Many developmental projects in Senegal, Mali, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo worth over $ 80 million have already been approved under this programme. Besides, the development of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) will help in creating the culture of good governance in African countries.
India has written off the debt owed by the African countries under the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) Paris Initiative and restructured the commercial debts.
The Indian government has also allotted a $ 500 million line of credit for TEAM-9, a new initiative between India and a group of Francophone countries of West Africa- Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivore, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal.
This programme, launched in March 2004, has set up a mechanism for cooperation to take up bilateral as well as sub-regional projects and become so successful that at least six more countries are interested in joining it. Projects worth $ 280 million covering these West African countries have already been approved against concessional lines of credit.
Most importantly, training and empowerment of human resource continues to remain India's enduring contribution to Africa. More than 1,000 officials from sub-Saharan Africa receive training annually in India under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC). India has in fact spent more than $ 1 billion on such assistance, including training, deputation of experts and implementation of projects in African countries.
Over 15,000 African students study in India, and Indian engineers, doctors, accountants and teachers are present everywhere in several African countries.
India has been quick to respond to humanitarian emergencies in African countries and been generous with its help. The Ministry of External Affairs runs an Aid to Africa programme that provides resources for these projects.
India one of the largest contributors to peacekeeping in Africa, currently has 3,500 troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a sizeable contingent in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Partnering the development process in Africa is in fact the guiding credo for India's sustained engagement with Africa.
India is actively engaged in the three crucial sectors of growth in Africa-telecommunications, IT and development of transport infrastructure and is looking forward to collaborate in new areas of cooperation like biotechnology and space technology.

ACBF Membership
In 2005, India became the first Asian country to become the full-member of the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) as it pledged $ 1 million to the ACBF mission to build capacity for sustainable development and poverty alleviation in Africa.
The new contours of an old time-tested relationship are most visible in the vibrancy of burgeoning trade and commercial ties between the two sides.

Focus Africa Programme
The net result: the Focus Africa programme, started in 2002-03, which initially focused on the Sub-Saharan region with emphasis on seven major trading partners of the region, has been subsequently extended to cover 17 more countries in Africa.
Besides training and capacity building programmes,energy cooperation is set to impart a new dimension to India-Africa relations as vast reserves of hydrocarbons are being discovered and developed in the continent. India's investment in Sudan's hydrocarbon sector is estimated to be $ 2 billion. ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) has already acquired stakes in oil exploration in Libya and Nigeria. The possibilities are huge as Africa emerges as the new hub of global energy supplies.
India also seeks to help Africa in eliminating the scourge of the AIDS epidemic that has killed millions and continue to threaten the continent's youth.
To achieve this objective, New Delhi has entered the field of anti-AIDS vaccines that are in the stage of undergoing tests and is also launching a campaign to eradicate new strains of disease like TB and malaria.
President Kalam has held out hope for mitigating the AIDS epidemic in Africa, saying that an effective AIDS vaccine would be available within five years. Besides, the President believes that the Indian experience in integrated nation building could be used to empower and enrich Africa.
Even as India and Africa come closer in projects of development and nation-building, their partnership can't hope to exert its requisite weight in world affairs unless they join hands to get their rightful place in the UN Security Council.

Confluence of Interests
Both India and Africa are acutely aware of a serious democracy deficit that afflicts the international body and the hidden and not so hidden opposition to their UN ambitions by some of the world's major powers. But if both sides, representing more than half the world's humanity, can fight this battle for justice together, they can still make it and use their influence in the global body to create an equitable world.
Many African countries have supported India's bid for the Security Council. Some of them have even supported the G4 resolution. But a consensus on evolving a joint position still eludes us. India sincerely hopes that the two sides are able to synchronize their positions in the days to come to make a decisive difference to the structure and functioning of the council.
India is aware that about two-third of the agenda of the UN Security Council focuses on Africa, and therefore, Africa needs permanent representation in the UNSC.
The confluence of interests, both bilateral and global, could not have been greater as India and Africa embark on an exciting voyage of rediscovery and get ready to embrace their global destiny in the new millennium. India's stature as a major power is being increasingly recognized by Africa, which sees it as an ideal partner in its resurgence and renewal. If both sides are able to synergise their energies and initiatives and adapt themselves to a changing world, the 21st century could surely belong to them.