Saturday, November 11, 2017

Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Africa: New Avenues of Cooperation

July-September 2016
Commentary
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to four African countries Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya from 7-11 July, 2016 has opened new avenues of cooperation in the field of food security, defence cooperation and renewable energy. During this trip, several agreements were signed with each country in diverse areas.

Food Security

Food Security is an important concern for India and Africa. India and Africa face similar challenges as regards hunger and undernutrition. Unfortunately despite the rising economic growth in the region in the past decade not much progress has been made in terms of reducing hunger. Rather, within Africa, the number of undernourished has increased from 181 million in 1990-92 to 232 million in 2014-16. (1) Comparatively, in India, the situation has improved marginally with the number of undernourished decreasing from 210 million in 1990-92 to 194 million in 2014-16. (2)
India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of pulses (protein rich seeds of crops of the legume family such as lentils, beans and peas) in the world. In recent years, India’s pulses’ production has not been sufficient to meet the rising consumption, and it has been forced to import them from Australia, Canada, Myanmar and the African countries. In order to address this challenge, during the visit to Mozambique, Prime Minister signed an MOU with Mozambique for the import of pulses either through the private or government to government channels. Similarly during his visit to Tanzania, Prime Minister Modi expressed the wish for enhanced export of pulses from Tanzania to India. However, the pulses agreement signed in Maputo is a win-win for both the countries. It not only promotes India’s food security but also provides opportunities to farmers in Mozambique to increase income, productivity and generate employment.

Renewable Energy

In recent years India has taken steps towards the goal of providing clean energy to its people. It has launched a massive renewable energy capacity enhancement programme. Solar power production is central facet of India’s renewable energy framework. Similarly, emerging concerns for carbon emissions and sustainable development have created an interest for renewable energy in Africa. A large number of regional groups including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have developed a renewable energy policy.
During Prime Minister’s visit to Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa and Kenya he engaged with the leaders of these countries to expand cooperation in this field. All four countries expressed support for India’s initiative for an International Solar Alliance. In Kenya, both leaders agreed to accelerate development of solar energy and enhancing cooperation in training and capacity building in the renewable energy sector.
Over the years India has been involved, to a limited extent, in training Africans in the field of renewable energy technologies. During the visit to Tanzania, Prime Minister met a group of “Solar Mamas” trained by the Bare Foot College (an Indian Non-Governmental Organisation). India has trained over 375 illiterate and semiliterate rural African women as solar engineers or “Solar Mamas”.(3) These women are able to fabricate, install and maintain household solar electrification systems. India is hoping to expand initiatives like this, as they form the core of India’s approach to development cooperation with Africa. In the past too, India has been engaged with African countries mainly through providing support in human resources development through skills transfer programmes in diverse fields.
Security Cooperation
As India shares the waters of the Indian Ocean with Africa, it was quite natural that maritime security and terrorism came up for discussion at all four stops made by Indian Prime Minister in Africa. However, Modi’s visit to Nairobi was marked by the signing of a MoU on defence cooperation by the two countries. This is significant as India and Kenya face a number of common security challenges. (4) Terrorism and radicalisation is a problem that is experienced by both the countries. Kenya has suffered a number of terrorist attacks. In 1998, the US embassy in Nairobi was attacked, followed by 2002 hotel bombing in Mombasa. It has also faced a number of attacks after it joined the African Union Mission in Somalia against the Al Shabaab terror group in 2011. The most prominent were the attack on Westgate mall in Nairobi in 2012 and Garissa University in 2015. Similarly, maritime security challenges such as piracy and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing are important areas concern for both India and Kenya. Cybersecurity, combating narcotics and human trafficking are other areas of cooperation agreed upon by the two sides. This MoU will facilitate staff exchanges, training, hydrographic surveys and equipment supply.

While in South Africa, Prime Minister Modi proposed to expand the defence cooperation to include joint manufacture of defence equipment both for domestic needs and also to cater the regional and global demand.(5) However this is not a new proposal; India had signed a MoU in defence cooperation agreement with South Africa in 1996. That agreement did not move beyond supply of defence equipment from South Africa to India. To a large extent this was due to the Indian government blacklisting South African defence firm Denel in 2005, due to alleged kickbacks given by the firm during the purchase of anti-material rifles in 1999. In 2014 this ban was lifted by the Indian government as the investigations failed to corroborate charges against the firm.(6) It is hoped that the cooperation among the defence industry of the two countries will blossom after the strong interest expressed by Prime Minister Modi and the South African President Jacob Zuma in this field.(7)
Conclusion
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Africa will go a long way in cementing ties with the African countries in the field of food security, energy and defence. At the same time, this visit will put to rest criticism of India’s visibility deficit in the region. Over the years, India had been critiqued for the lack of high level of visits to the continent. Comparisons were often made in the media with the frequent visits by the Chinese leaders to the continent. The Prime Ministerial visit to Mozambique was after a gap of 34 years, to Kenya after 35 years and to South Africa after a gap of 10 years.
Moreover the welcome given to Prime Minister Modi in all the capitals during the visit, reflects that India’s approach of engaging in not just trade but in training and capacity building development appeals to Africa, as it benefits Africans. It is hoped that the Indian government will move towards speedy implementation of commitments made during this visit.


 1. United Nations, Food and Agricultural Organisation, The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2015,http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4646e.pdf, (Accessed September 21, 2016).
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