The new economic frontier

Expectations are high as the Africa-India Forum Summit (AIFS) III is turning out to be one of the largest events of its kind. The challenge for India and Africa is to take the partnership to the next level.Manju SethAfrica has many suitors, including the US, China, the EU, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, who are aggressively wooing it not only for its vast mineral and energy resources but also to garner support at crucial international meetings on climate change, sustainable development etc. Soft loans and lines of credit (LOCs) enable their companies to get contracts to build infrastructure and partly control them through agreements to manage them.India engages Africa at three levels: bilateral, regional with groupings such as ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), and pan-African through the AIFS. Although much has been achieved, a reality check of the implementation of past AIFSs in 2008 and 2011 is disappointing. While LOCs of $7.4 billion were announced over the two summits, $6.8 billion has been approved and $3.5 billion disbursed so far, and of the 100 institutions that were committed to be set up, only 40 have got off the ground. Bureaucratic procedures on both sides and lack of expertise in some African countries regarding the LOC process have hampered quick implementation.At AIFS I, India had highlighted its offer of duty-free market access to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), 33 of which were from Africa; again utilisation of this scheme has been tardy by African LDCs even as India-Africa trade has touched $70 billion in 2015. Although attractive, Africa is a fragmented market of 54 countries at different stages of development. Another challenge is that each country is unique and a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.AIFS III is the first major partnership summit that Africa is holding after it adopted the Agenda 2063-a vision document for the next 50 years, and after the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030 were adopted in September. India will certainly focus on aligning the outcome of AIFS III with the Agenda 2063 of Africa and SDG 2030, in line with the priorities of both India and Africa, including capacity-building, climate change mitigation strategies, energy and food security, poverty alleviation, renewable energy, reform of the UN and the UNSC, etc.As India and Africa move centre stage in the emerging new global order, cooperation is of the essence and AIFS III needs to further build on the agreed framework of cooperation while prioritising proposals and pruning deadwood. The Africa-India Trade Ministers' Dialogue needs to fast-track investment and trade facilitation and the Africa-India Business Council should be invigorated to enable two-way trade and investment to achieve its potential; direct banking links are an urgent imperative; direct flight connectivity is key to enhancing both B-to-B and people-to-people ties.AIFS III needs to put in place mechanisms to ensure time-bound implementation of an approved project, with the partner country having a stake in its completion and subsequent management. It should encourage the Indian private sector to be part of Africa's growth story and 'Make in Africa' while encouraging African companies to invest and 'Make in India'. Out-of-the-box solutions are required to deal with the specificities of each country. AIFS III will need to be a game changer in the long-standing but increasingly strategic partnership between Africa and India.The writer is India's former envoy to MadagascarPublished By: AtMigration Published On: Oct 21, 2015 20:59 IST--- ENDS ---

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The new economic frontier

India needs to speed up project implementation and draw up country-specific policies for different African nations as the race to woo the resource-rich continent hots up.

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