World | India
New Delhi bids to get a piece of Africa at summit
India will host leaders from more than a dozen African nations next week as it tries to emerge from China's shadow on the continent, offering its skills in low-cost services in return for access to rich natural resources.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:34 April 5, 2008
New Delhi: India will host leaders from more than a dozen African nations next week as it tries to emerge from China's shadow on the continent, offering its skills in low-cost services in return for access to rich natural resources.
During a two-day summit to be attended by heads of states and senior ministers from 14 African nations from April 8-9, India will hope to start chipping away at Beijing's decade-long headstart, analysts say.
While China has invested in countries like Sudan where human rights concerns have curbed interest from more cautious Western countries, India enjoys historic and cultural links to several eastern and southern African nations dating back to British colonial rule, which could ease its way.
"India has a goodwill which it wants to translate into economic benefits," said Ajay Dubey, professor at the Centre for West Asian and African Studies at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Dubey said Africa was crucial to India's energy security and a region where it was in a better position to negotiate the local system because of long-standing ties.
India's trade with Africa has soared from $967 million in 1991 to $20 billion in 2006/07. But compare that with China's trade relations with Africa which were worth less than India's in 1999, but have since leapt to $55 billion.
The Confederation of Indian Industry, a top lobby group, says the upcoming summit will help India identify sectors of interest.
It would also aim to spur Africa's industrial growth through developing small and medium enterprises.
Shipra Tripathy, the head of the group's Africa desk, said India would explore interests in agriculture, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, textiles, health, and metals and minerals: "This summit will be geared towards economic diplomacy."
Among the top leaders scheduled to attend the summit are South African President Thabo Mbeki, Congo's President Joseph Kabila, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
India is expected to announce duty cuts on imports from attending nations and detail ways to boost bilateral trade.
At a recent meeting of Indian and African firms organised by the confederation, 150 projects worth $11 billion were discussed, but company executives are waiting for policy declarations from the summit before moving ahead with the deals.
At the same conclave, India's Exim Bank extended a $30 million line of credit to finance exports to Africa.
India imports 70 per cent of its crude needs, and energy demand in Asia's third-largest economy is expected to more than double by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.
Private companies such as Essar Oil Limited and state-owned explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp have clinched deals in southern Sudan, Kenya, Libya and Nigeria among others.
ONGC has made a renewed push in Angola - sub-Saharan Africa's second largest oil producer - where it lost out on a 50 per cent share in an oil exploration project to China, after China reportedly dangled $2 billion in aid - 10 times India's offer.
"The Chinese are more aggressive after oil, mineral and metals," said David Nalo, permanent secretary in Kenya's Trade and Industry Ministry, adding that Asia's market size and Africa's desire to grow meant there was something for everyone.
"We need to get more out of India, even in terms of tourists," he said.
This summit will be geared towards economic diplomacy."
Shipra Tripathy, Confederation of Indian Industry
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