India’s relation with African Union
Background: The African Union is an international organisation consisting of 53 African member states ( excluding Morocco but including Saharwi ADR). It was founded in Durban on July 10, 2002, replacing the Organization of African Unity( OAU).
In 1999, the Heads of State / Government of the OAU issued the Sirte Declaration calling for establishing an African Union to accelerate the process of integration in the African Continent. The Lome Summit of 2000 adopted the Constitutive Act and the Lusaka Summit of 2001 drew the roadmap for implementation of the African Union. It’s headquarter is located in Addis Ababa. The birth of the AU is a legacy of the Pan-African movement towards creating institutions to achieve the objectives of peace, political stability, democracy, economic integration and good governance. The Regional Economic Communities like Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Arab Maghreb Union (AMU/UMA), The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) are contributing to the progress of integration.
Summits:
Since the inception of the African Union, India has been regularly participating in its various Summits. India participated in the AU Summit in Durban in July 2002 and in Maputo (Mozambique) in July 2003. At the Durban and Maputo Summits, Shri Shashank, Secretary (EAA) carried a message from Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, which was circulated to all the African Heads of State/Government as a document. The Indian delegation to the 3rd AU Summit in Addis Ababa in July 2004 was led by Sh. Rajiv Sikri, Special Secretary (ER), and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent a message of warm felicitations for the Summit. At the Sirte Summit (Libya) in 2005, the Indian delegation was led by Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs. The Indian delegation for the Khartoum AU Summit in January 2006 was a small one, and the Indian delegation for the Summit held in June-July 2006 in Banjul (Gambia) was a composite one led by Secretary (West). For the AU Summit in January 2007 in Addis Ababa, the Indian delegation from the MEA was led by Sh. Nalin Surie, Secretary (West) and included JS (WA). 9th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly (AU Summit) was held in Accra from 1 - 3 July 2007. The Indian delegation from the MEA was led by Shri. K.C. Singh, AS (IO) and included JS (WA).
The 10th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union took place in Addis Ababa Jan 31-Feb 02, 2008 whose theme was “Industrial Development of Africa”. The Indian Delegation was led by Shri Anand Sharma, MoS for External Affairs. In his Address to the Executive Council on January 29, 2008 he announced the India Africa Forum Summit to be held at New Delhi from April 4-9, 2008. He also met the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, a number of HOSs / HOGs/ EAMs and the Chairperson of African Union and personally handed over the invitation of IAFS 2008 to them. MoS (AS) again led the Indian Delegation to the 11th Ordinary Session of the Assembly at Sharma-el Sheik, Egypt from June 26- 29,2008 whose theme was “Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation”. The 12th and 13th Ordinary Summits of AU were held at Addis Ababa in February 2009 and at Sirte, Libya in July, 2009 respectively and were attended by Indian Permanent representatives to AU.
Dr. Shashi Tharoor, MoS for External Affairs and Africa participated in the 14th Ordinary Summit of The African Union from 25th January to 2nd February, 2010, whose theme was “Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Prospects and Challenges for Development”. He attended the opening ceremony of the Executive Council, called on the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Foreign Ministers of a number of African states and Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of AUC and discussed a number of matters of mutual interest. During the visit, he also inaugurated the Tele-medicine facility at the African Union Clinic which received a wide publicity.
Extraordinary Summits:
India sent its Special Envoy, Shri Salman Kurshid for the Extraordinary Summit held in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) in September 2004. Mrs. Shashi Tripathi, Secretary (West) led the Indian delegation for the AU Extraordinary Summit held in Addis Ababa in August 2005, and also for the Extraordinary Summit held in October 2005 in Addis Ababa. These were on UN reforms.
India-Africa Forum Summit
The first ever India-Africa Forum Summit, attended by the countries representing AU and the Regional Economic Communities of Africa, was held in New Delhi on 8-9 April, 2008. Leaders of 14 African counties and the African Union Commission participated. It represented a turning point in the India- AU relations.
The Summit adopted the Delhi Declaration and the Africa-India Framework for Cooperation, which constitute the blueprint for cooperation between India and Africa in the 21st century. Under this new framework, relationships will be further developed in the areas of trade, economy, agriculture, education, science, technology, water management and human resource development. Constructive discussions were also held on the issues of food and energy security, UN reforms and climate change. It was also agreed that the next IAFS would be held in Africa in 2011.
India announced unilateral duty free and preferential market access for exports from all the least developed countries, 34 of which are in Africa. The scheme will cover 94% of India’s total tariff lines. Specifically, it will provide preferential market access on tariff lines that comprise 92.55 of global exports of all Least Developed Countries. Products of immediate interest to Africa include cotton, cocoa, aluminium ores, copper ores, cashew nuts, cane sugar, ready-made garments, fish fillets and non-industrial diamonds. India would double its quantum of credit to USD 5.4 billion from the present USD 2.15 billion over next five years.
In order to enhance opportunities for African Students to pursue higher studies in India, the Government of India has doubled long-term scholarships for undergraduates, postgraduates and higher courses and increased the number of training slots under our technical assistance programmes from 1100 to 1600 every year. The Prime Minster of India proposed that India and Africa work towards the establishment of an India-Africa Volunteer Corps which would be devoted to development work. The Volunteer Corps can, on a pilot basis, identify projects in the areas of public health, informal education and women’s empowerment and as we gather more experience, the scope of activities can be progressively widened. Prime Minister also proposed to enhance Indian aid to Africa by expanded concessional lines of credit and undertaking projects against grants in excess of USD 500 million over the next five to six years, focusing on human resource development and capacity building. India will strengthen local capabilities by creating regional and pan –African institutions of higher education, especially in pure sciences, information technology and vocational education. India will also make investments in research and development in renewable forms of energy and agricultural development, through these institutions.
Several outreach events took place before or concurrent with the Summit. These were(i) the first ever India-Africa Editors Conference;(ii) joint performances by Indian and African cultural troupes; (iii) a seminar of intellectuals from Africa and India on India-Africa Partnership on the 21st century(vi) a programme for youth and women from Africa; and (v) a business conclave.
Follow-up of India-Africa Forum Summit: Following visit of a high level delegation from AUC to New Delhi, the Joint Action Plan with a view to implement the decision of the IAFS 2008 has been finalized & launched on 10th March 2010 between the Government of India and African Union. The decision as to the location of the four Institutions viz, the India-Africa Institute of Foreign Trade, India-Africa Institute of Information Technology, India Africa Institute of Education Planning and Administration and India Africa Diamond Institute besides 10 India-Africa vocational Training Centres and construction of 5 prototype low cost houses is presenting being finalized by the AUC. The award of first 75 of the total 300 PhD and maters scholarships in the field of Agriculture is already underway and the necessary applications are under process in the Ministry of Agriculture in India.
Pan-African e-Network Project:
The proposal for establishing the Pan-African e-Network Project was made by the then President of India at the Pan-African Parliament in 2004 and is being implemented in conjunction with the African Union. The offer was examined by the African Union in 2005 and the Advisory Committee to the Chairperson concluded that the project would suit the requirement of Africa in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals.
The Project was inaugurated by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the Minister of External Affairs on February 26, 2009 from the TCIL Centre in New Delhi. The process to implement the project was undertaken by establishing a Steering Committee, which is co-chaired by the Commissioner for Infrastructure and the Indian representative to the African Union (the Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia). An agreement between GOI and the African Union was signed in New Delhi in October 2005 and six meetings of the Steering Committee have so far been held. The seventh meeting was held in Addis Ababa from May19-20, 2010. Ambassador of India, who is also the Permanent Representative of India to AU, co-chaired the meeting with the Commissioner for Infrastructure Development of AU. JS (WA) and representatives from IGNOU, TCIL, Amity University also participated in the deliberations.
The project would use Indian expertise in information technology to bring benefits of healthcare and higher education in Africa, including in remote areas. The network will be connected by a satellite/fibre optical network for tele-medicine, tele-education and VVIP connectivity. The current project cost is about USD 116 million, which will be given as a grant by the Government of India. It consists of 5 regional universities, 5 regional super specialty hospitals, 53 learning centres, 53 remote hospitals and 53 VVIP nodes in all countries of Africa. These will be linked to 7 universities and 12 super specialty hospitals in India. Each country is required to sign an agreement with the Indian implementing agency, Telecommunication Consultants India Limited (TCIL).
On Indian side 5 Universities and all 12 Super Speciality Hospitals are integrated with the project. On African side, 47 countries have singed agreements with TCIL. So far 3 out of 5 regional universities have been integrated with the e-Network which are Kwame/Nkrumah University of S&T and University of Ghana, Mekerere University of Uganda and Younde University of Cameroon. The Ibadan Hospital of Nigeria has so far integrated with the project.
Ethiopia was the first beneficiary of the project under a pilot project, which has been completed in 2007 at a cost of US$2.13 million. India has also committed to provide tele-medicine, tele-education and VIP connectivity facility at AU Commission in Addis Ababa.
A tele-medicine Centre has also been inaugurated by the then MOS (ST), Dr Shashi Tharoor on February 28, 2010 during his visit to Addis Ababa in connection with 14th Summit of AU.
India is a member of the newly established AU Partners Group (AUPG), which meets periodically in Addis Ababa.
Visit of Chairperson of AU Commission:
H.E. Dr. Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of AU Commission paid an official visit to India from 19-21 December 2006. He called on the President, had meetings with the EAM, MOS (AS), and delivered a lecture at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). He also visited TCIL and IGNOU and observed the working of the Pan African tele-education project. On return, he has written to HOS/HOGs of all Member states on the importance of the project.
ITEC:
India has allocated 10 slots in the year 2008-2009 for the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme to the AU Commission personnel and all the slots have been fully utilized for the year 2007-09 and 2009-10.
Defence:
Among the various aspects of engagement with the African Union Commission, their requirement for training and capacity building of their nascent standby brigade, which were to be the building blocks of their peacekeeping activities, are being discussed.
At the request of the AU commission, initial discussions on their structures to be developed and capabilities to be enhanced was undertaken between an Indian military delegation and the peace and security division of the AU Commission in August 2006. The aim is to see how the Indian experience can be shared with the AU’s efforts to enhance its own capacities for peacekeeping operations in Africa.
Commemoration of 1st International Day of Non-Violence:
A joint commemoration of the 1st International Day of Non-Violence was held on 2nd October 2007 at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa which comprised of screening of a short film on Mahatma Gandhi and Millennium Lecture on Mahatma Gandhi by His Holiness Abune Paulos, Patriarch of Ethiopia, Archbishop of Axum and President of World Council of Churches. The then Deputy Chairperson of African Union H.E. Mr. Patrick Mazimhaka also addressed the gathering. The Ambassador also presented a photograph of the bust of Mahatma Gandhi to be installed at the African Union commission at that occasion.
Commissioner level visits:
Commissioner for Political Affairs and Commissioner for Infrastructure & Energy participated in the Federalism Conference and India- Africa Hydrocarbon Conference respectively in Nov. 2007. Commissioner for Rural Economy & Agriculture participated in Avian Influenza Conference in Dec. 2007. Commissioner for Economic Affairs of AU participated in the Partnership Summit 2008 in March 2008 and spoke on “ Ensuring Growth, Making it Inclusive: The West Asian and African Views.” Deputy
Chairperson of AUC, Commissioner for Trade and Industry and Commissioner for Infrastructure & Energy participated in the India Africa Forum Summit in April 2008. Commissioner for Infrastructure attended Exim Bank Conclave in Delhi in March, 2009.
Following the terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26th November, 2008 , the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and S&\T commissioner have sent letters expressing their heartfelt condolences on the loss of life and property and expressed their hope that given the resilience of the country, the scourge of violence will be defeated with grit and determination. Deputy Chairperson of AUC also expressed his condolences in person.
June, 2010