India widens engagement with Africa, gives $10 bn more credit

New Delhi In its biggest ever engagement with Africa India on Thursday sought to recharge its ties with all 54 African countries announcing increased interaction in areas like energy and agriculture while offering an additional concessional credit of 10 billionPrime Minister Narendra Modi described as historic the summit attended by 41 heads of state and government including of South Africa Egypt Nigeria Ghana Morocco Zimbabwe Kenya Uganda Tanzania Mozambique and Liberia and comprising two kings 25 presidents and six prime ministers besides six vice presidents foreign and trade ministers and senior officialsThe third IndiaAfrica Forum Summit IAFS the largest international gathering of leaders in Delhi after the NonAligned Movement summit in 1983 was held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium allowing all the leaders to sit as equals at a horseshoe shaped tablePrime Minister Narendra Modi along with Robert Mugabe President of Zimbabwe and Chairman of African Union and African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosanzana DlaminiZuma at the closing session of the India Africa Forum Summit at Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi on Thursday PicPTI According to Indian officials Africa had never been present in such strength in any of their interactions with other world power or groupings an indicator of their expectations from India and the countrys growing international stature Prime Minister Modi who was dressed in his usual kurta with a pale blue sleeveless jacket and churidar in his closing remarks said This has been a truly historic day We had the opportunity to listen to the whole of AfricaHe said closer defence and security cooperation specially in capability development will be a key pillar of their partnership which was so natural as their destinies are so closely interlinked and aspirations and challenges are so similar Announcing that the next IAFS will be held after five years Modi stressed Africa will remain at the centre of Indias attention and engagement with it will remain intense and regularThe summit adopted a Delhi Declaration seeking a decisive push for United Nations Security Council reform and calling on all countries to ensure that their territories were not used for crossborder terrorist activities while also adopted was a Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation Commemorative coins and stamps were also released and President Pranab Mukherjee later hosted a banquet for the visiting leadersOn the sidelines Modi also had bilateral meetings with 10 African leaders including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah AlSisi Modi who met 19 leaders on Wednesday is slated to have more bilaterals on Friday In his opening address as the summit host Modi sought to strengthen the IndiaAfrica partnership by announcing 50000 scholarships in the next five yearsIt is a meeting of dreams of onethird of humanity under one roof Modi said as he outlined a roadmap for increased Indian interaction with African countries in a wide gamut including connectivity infrastructure power and agriculture his speech evoking loud cheers from the leaders in a bid to enhance Indian influence in a continent where China had stolen a march with over 200 billion investments in the last 15 yearsHe also called for a comprehensive agreement on climate change at a global conference later this year No one Modi said had contributed less to global warming than India and Africa adding that the excess of few cannot become the burden of manyThe summit in which the visiting leaders were treated to a cultural extravaganza at the start including African dances also saw the dresses and images of Africa come alive with many of the leaders sporting traditional costumes and headgear including Liberian President and Nobel Peace Prize Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and African Union Commission chair Nkosazana DlaminiZuma and many speaking in their native languagesIAFS is a major initiative of the Modi government to reach out to the continent which has rich resources is witnessing faster growth and has a similar demographic profile African countries see large scope of cooperation with India in diverse areas such as agriculture and educationSouth African President Jacob Zuma described the relation between India and the African countries as an embodiment of SouthSouth cooperation and dwelt on the roles played by your visionary former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe strongly pitched for reforms of the UN Security Council and said Africa should get at least two permanent seatsApart from the concessional credit in addition to the 74 billion India has already committed Modi said India would also offer a grant assistance of 600 million which would include an IndiaAfrica Development Fund of 100 million and an IndiaAfrica Health Fund of 10 million He said India and Africa would deepen their partnership on clean energy sustainable habitats public transport health care telecommunications and climate resilient agriculture