• India has historically enjoyed a close relationship with Africa, due to the shared struggle against colonialism, the non-aligned movement and shared socio-economic and demographic challenges.
• India-Africa relations have developed steadily in the past 15 years, especially since 2014.
•  However, there is still scope for further strengthening the relations.

Key highlights of the report

• The report examines the transitions unfolding in demographic, economic, political and social aspects of Africa stamped by the adverse impact of the pandemic and complicated geopolitics.
• Even as Ethiopia, Sudan, the Central African Republic and other countries continue to battle with the challenges posed by insurgency, ethnic violence and terrorism.
• Africa is slowly heading toward regional integration and is devoted to democracy, peace and progress.
• There is competition going on between countries like China, Russia and the USA to strengthen their relations with parts of Africa to ensure market access, gain energy and mineral security, and increase political and economic influence.

Africa-China Ties

• China is armed with a consistent and robust policy since 2000 to become virtually Africa’s biggest economic partner.
• The report portrays China’s role as ‘the infrastructure developer’, ‘the resource provider’, and ‘the financier’.
• China has invested enormously in Africa in terms of money, materials and diplomatic push.
• Even though India has a substantive partnership with Africa and a rich fund of goodwill it is essential for India to review its Africa policy periodically, stay resilient by making the required changes, and place focus on its implementation to counter China in the region.

Recommendations on India-Africa Partnership

1. Political and Diplomatic Cooperation

• Political and diplomatic cooperation should be strengthened by restoring periodic leader’s summits through the medium of the India-Africa Forum Summit.
• Last summit was in 2015.
• A new annual strategic dialogue between the chairperson of the African Union (AU) and India’s External Affairs Minister should be launched in 2023.
• India should work on forging consensus among G-20 members on the AU’s entry into the G-20 as a full member.
• Prime Minister recently communicated to G-20 leaders requesting support for this proposal.

2. Defence and Security Cooperation

• In the arena of defence and security cooperation, the government needs to:
• Increase the number of defence attachés deployed in Africa,
• Expand dialogue on defence issues,
• Widen the footprint of maritime collaboration, and
• Expand lines of credit to facilitate defence exports.
• More can be done to increase the number of defence training slots and enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism, cyber security and emerging technologies.

3. India-Africa Trade

• India-Africa trade touching $98 billion in FY22–23 this figure can go up if access to finance through the creation of an Africa Growth Fund (AGF) is ensured.
• A special package of measures should be brought by India to improve project exports and build up cooperation in the shipping domain.

Other Areas of Cooperation

• A special focus on promoting trilateral cooperation and deepening science and technology cooperation could pay rich dividends.
• Socio-cultural cooperation should be increased through greater interaction between universities, think tanks, civil society and media organisations in India and select African countries.
• Scholarships awarded to Africans should be named after famous African figures.
• Visa measures for African students who come to India for higher education should be liberalised.
• They should also be given work visas for short periods.
• A special mechanism for implementing the ‘Roadmap 2030’ can best be secured through close collaboration between the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the National Security Council Secretariat through a team of officials working under the joint leadership of the Secretary, Africa in the MEA, and a designated Deputy National Security Adviser.

India needs to strengthen its already existing ties with Africa. Africa is a continent that accounts for nearly 17% of the world’s population today and reaching 25% in 2050. Africa has the potential to become a huge market for Indian businesses. Africa is also blessed with an abundance of mineral resources which can contribute towards the diversification of India’s oil imports and improve India’s energy security.