This time for Africa: On India, Africa and the Global South

India must take forward its commitment to Africa and the Global South 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nigeria, and his ongoing tours to Brazil, for the G-20, and Guyana, are important not only for ties with each of these countries but also significant as a statement on India’s commitment to the Global South. In the Abuja visit, the first after then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 2007 visit, where the two countries declared a Strategic Partnership, Mr. Modi and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reaffirmed ties in areas including defence cooperation. Mr. Modi identified terrorism, separatism, piracy and drug trafficking as challenges for the two countries to work together on. Receiving Nigeria’s ‘the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger’, Mr. Modi, the second foreign dignitary to receive the distinction, dedicated the award to the people of India and to the ‘long-standing, historical friendship between India and Nigeria’. India was among the countries that sent teachers and doctors to Nigeria after its independence from Britain in 1960. The Indian community is over 60,000-strong — India’s largest diaspora in West Africa, and a bridge builder. The two countries have strong economic ties in a region where India has often been faulted for not doing more: about 200 Indian companies have invested about $27 billion, in pharma, health care, agriculture and energy, where both countries share low-cost technologies and experiences as they tackle similar chronic issues of poverty, pollution and population density. Nigeria is among the top African economies in GDP. It is now a BRICS partner country. The conversations will continue, as both leaders travelled to Rio De Janeiro for the G-20 in Brazil, and where the African Union was inducted as a G-20 member in 2023.

While India’s voluble commitment to the Global South and South-South cooperation has been appreciated, particularly in Africa, it also has been seen as short on follow-through at times. Its leadership of the third iteration of “Voice of the Global South” (VoGS) conference this year has seen lack-lustre participation. India’s plans to use the platform to feed into the G-20 processes may find more engagement if it allows the G-20 host each year to take over the hosting of the VoGS summit. The India-Africa Forum summit, last held in 2015, is also overdue, and it is hoped that New Delhi moves, as the Foreign Secretary promised at a briefing on Mr. Modi’s visit, to hold it early next year. As India shores up ties across the Southern hemisphere, and builds common cause with countries that are important when it comes to the debate over global governance, food, energy and health security, it must be seen to match its ideals with nimble footwork and a decided presence across the developing world, as is evidenced by the Prime Minister’s travels this week.

Published - November 19, 2024 12:15 am IST