IN an interview with news agency PTI just a week before the G20 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in some detail about why he was pushing for the African Union’s inclusion in the grouping. He first spoke about the India-Africa connect: “Our affinity to Africa is natural. We have had millennia-old cultural and commerce ties with Africa. We have a shared history of movements against colonialism. As a youthful and aspirational nation ourselves, we also relate to the people of Africa and their aspirations,’’ and then outlined why “Africa is a top priority for us even within the G20.’’ As he succinctly summed it up, ‘’no plan for the future of the planet can be successful without the representation and recognition of all voices.’’
The India-Africa connect is indeed very strong. One of the very first summits held after Narendra Modi became PM was the India-Africa Forum Summit in 2015. Over 50 countries from Africa participated and “it greatly strengthened our partnership. Later, in 2017, for the first time, a summit of the African Development Bank was held outside Africa, in Ahmedabad.’’
Going a step further
Now the African vision has gone one step further with the invitation to the Africa Union for the New Delhi G20 and the growing chorus led by India for a permanent seat to the grouping within the G20. The country’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant said, “PM was very clear that we have to, after all, they comprise 55 countries and you need to make G20 far more inclusive. G20 is not like G7. It comprises both developed and developing countries or emerging countries.
Look at Africa, six of the fastest-growing 12 nations are from Africa…If the world is going to grow in these regions, then you need to make them a part of the G20.” There are many angles as to why India supports the Africa Connect. Support from African countries will be critical to help India attain its goal of a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Moreover, irrespective of who was in power, India has consistently pushed for exchanges across sectors – knowledge, technology and experiences to Africa. That has evolved over the years into a formidable presence of Indian companies in multiple disciplines across the continent.
In many areas, they are the market leaders by a long mile. Some of them like Bajaj Automobiles, TVS, Airtel, and Afcon have been transformational for the country’s image in the most positive way.
Expansion of initiatives
Apart from Industry and the private sector, over time there has been an enormous expansion of non-governmental organisations (NGO), trade and industry body initiatives and a far greater emphasis on triangular or partnership with multilateral institutions for programmes in Africa. Some of these institutions include the Indian Trade and Investments in Africa (SITA) funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the driven initiative called the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGG) that includes India and several African countries focusing on improvements in infrastructure and digitalisation. There is also the Future India Triangular Training (FTF-ITT) Programme funded by USAID and India for agricultural research in Africa.
While all this continues to play out, the G20 will be looking at many of the recommendations made by the B20 (the trade and industry Group within the G20) Action Council headed by Sunil Mittal. The theme that they have worked on these past ten months is ‘African Economic Integration: An Agenda for Global Business’. Their recommendations are pretty comprehensive and doable. It is now for the G20 to act upon it. But at its core is reaffirming the B20 theme RAISE- -Responsible, Accelerated, Innovative, Sustainable & Equitable Businesses.
No extractive economy
Not the one to mince words, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during a visit to Africa some months back bluntly said that India is not “an extractive economy” and does not pursue “narrow economic activities” in the resource-rich African continent. Who he was talking about was pretty evident. “Today we want to see Africa grow. We want to see African economies grow. And our approach to Africa today is to trade more with Africa, invest in Africa, work with Africa, to create capacities in Africa, so that the rise of Africa also takes place as countries like India are rising in Asia,” he added.
In essence, that is the driver for getting the African Union on board the G20 – to create a more inclusive and equitable world through equitable and sustainable cooperation.
