On 29-30 March 2019, the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), under the Third India- Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III) initiative, is organising an international conference on “India’s Engagement with North Africa and Horn of Africa: Issues, Initiative and Prospects” here at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to the press release sent from the Indian Embassy, India’s trade with the region currently values about USD 10.73 billion. Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco and Ethiopia are the top five countries from the region trading with India. Food and agricultural items dominate Indian exports to the region while the Indian import basket is dominated by mineral fuel, mineral oil and its products along with some food and agricultural items. However, there is tremendous scope for growth and diversification of the bilateral trade and investment in infrastructure, industry and services.
The press release also highlights that the conference aims at examining the challenges and prospects of India’s engagement with the regions of North Africa and Horn of Africa on economic, political, social, developmental and strategic issues. It would bring together academia, scholars, business leaders and experts from the countries in the North Africa and Horn of Africa region to
facilitate a better understanding of various issues in the region.
In addition, the objective of the exercise is to contemplate over and examine the scope of cooperation in the above mentioned areas and come up with new and creative ideas to diversify and deepen the partnership for mutual benefit.
In fact, the region has old historical and civilizational links with India. It has been trading and exchanging knowledge and ideas on culture with India for a long time. Bordering the southern coast of the Mediterranean as well as the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, it has also acted as a large intermediary space for India’s interaction with the ‘West’ during the colonial as well as the postcolonial times, albeit for different reasons.
Leaders from the North Africa and Horn of Africa collaborated with India’s voice in the fight against colonialism in the post-World War II period. The economic and developmental needs of the region and India at the time of their Independence were also similar in nature. Therefore, India, being the first to get independence, looked out to extend cooperation to the countries of the region despite its own limited capacity. However, the political, economic and cultural interface of the North Africa and Horn of Africa with India has seen changes and major shifts since the end of the Cold
War.
Since the 2008 India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS), bilateral relationship between the two regions has deepened and diversified. The Summit has reinvigorated bilateral relationship between the two regions. It has induced an unprecedented level of mutual high level visits, economic engagement and development partnership.
Moreover, the forum works as a platform for sharing ideas and experiences about economic and developmental needs, programmes as well as perspectives on issues of good domestic and global governance. It also aims for implementing and monitoring the various developmental programmes and investment commitments undertaken under its banner.
Of course, the IAFS approaches India-Africa relationship on the basis of complementarity and mutual benefit. Both, India as well as North Africa and Horn of Africa, with IAFS mechanisms, are experiencing renewed interest and vigour in increasing mutual interactions and strengthening bilateral ties. It has reenergised Indian old developmental programmes like ITEC and ICCR scholarships in Africa, and has been promoting programmes like the pan African e-network linking and serving various dimensions of education in most of the African countries.
Above all, North Africa and Horn of Africa, recently, experienced the phenomenon of ‘Arab Spring’ leading to political instability and uncertainty in the region. Taking advantage of the tumult, terrorism has spread its tentacles deeper, raising security and strategic concerns and increasing business and investment risk in the region. Hence, the imperative for growth and development requires simultaneous dealing with the factors responsible for generating insecurity and political instability and finding out ways for sustained growth in trade and investment.
In sum, the conference will focus issues and perspectives on the political and diplomatic relations of India with North Africa and Horn of Africa regions. It will also stress on strengthening trade, economic and developmental cooperation: factoring infrastructure, agriculture, energy, pharmaceuticals and it in general, the conference will discuss on People to People Linkages that highlights the role and prospects for culture, educational exchanges, media and diaspora.
The Ethiopian Herald March 23/2019
BY STAFF REPORTER
