India pushing to edge past China in Africa
- By Sajjad Malik
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 26, 2015
The Indians have carefully picked the timing to dig deeper for opportunities in Africa. The summit coincides with China's economic slowdown after decades of phenomenal progress that made it the second biggest economy of the world.
China is Africa's largest economic partner with bilateral trade of 200 billion dollars. It has already invested in a big way in infrastructure like highways, airports and energy sector. The nature of economic tie shows that the slowing of growth in China will have adverse impact on African nations due to their weak economic base and lack of diversification in economy.
India will try to fill in the gap created by Chinese economic woes and the summit seems to be the first major effort towards that direction. Already, India's trade with Africa has reached to 70 billion dollars, showing an increase of 20-fold in the last decade and half.
India is on the move and has made a commitment of 7.5 billion dollars assistance for infrastructure with 137 projects in 41 African countries. It also plans to set up 100 training institutes in different sectors. It is also playing a role in creating peace and stability in Africa with the help of 4,500 troops in four major UN peacekeeping operations.
India also offers good educational opportunities for African students who cannot afford costly education in the Western institutes but can pay for cheaper and relatively better education in India. It is also offering cheaper and quality medical services.
It is not just interested in exploiting the economic gains by expanding to Africa as having access to cheaper energy sources and good return on capital investment is just one aspect of the Africa strategy. India is also ploughing to garner support for its efforts to get a permanent seat in the UN Security Council through reforms in the world body.
The African countries play an important role in General Assembly due to their sheer numbers and by having better ties with the continent, India will boost chances to play more effective part in the international matters.
The early sign of the success of India's Africa diplomacy are visible from the numbers of the countries lining up for the New Delhi summit.
The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm
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