East Africa is the fastest growing region in the resource-rich continent. India has a long-standing relationship with the region and an enterprising and successful diaspora has been living there for over a century
ORF has embarked on developing a continuing programme of East African Studies and Research, focusing on various issues that will have a direct bearing on the Africa growth story and globalising India’s engagement with the continent. This programme is the result of a successful international conference ORF had organised in November 2008, with the theme of “Engaging with a Resurgent Africa”. During 2009, ORF’s Africa Programme has as its focus two key regions of Africa with sharply contrasting profiles: the economically vibrant East Africa that is rapidly integrating into world economy and Francophone Africa, a resource-rich region which could potentially be the richest in the world but has been mired in strife and instability.
As part of this programme, ORF organised a seminar on India’s changing relationship with East Africa on June 5, 2009. East Africa is the fastest growing region in the resource-rich continent. India has a long-standing relationship with the region and an enterprising and successful diaspora has been living there for over a century. In recent years, the engagement has acquired a sharper business focus with top Indian businesses establishing their presence in East Africa.
The seminar took an overview of India’s historical and cultural ties with the region and explored in detail various aspects of India’s deepening relationship with East Africa. This included trade and investment, the Indian diaspora, energy security, security and counter-terrorism, and cooperation on global issues like WTO talks and climate change.
It was generally felt that, despite long-standing ties, the relationship is far short of its full potential. Bilateral trade and investment are growing, but are yet to acquire a critical mass. Despite living in East African countries for over a century, the Indian diaspora suffers from an image problem and are often perceived as a profit-driven community that keeps its distance from the Africans. Latent tensions manifest themselves from time to time in the form of the targeting of Indians in response to local economic and other problems. This has an obvious spill-over effect on attitudes towards India.
The participants and discussants noted the striking knowledge and information gap between people of India and East Africa. Meaningful media coverage was virtually nonexistent. The persistence of stereotypes and a lack of mutual understanding and awareness have come in the way of a fuller engagement between India and East Africa,. The media, it was felt, has a critical role in transforming public perception of each other and needed to be drawn in for a more robust engagement.
The shifting landscape of India’s engagement with East Africa, especially in the context of competition from other external actors such as China, was exhaustively discussed. While India insists that it is not in competition with any other external player in Africa, there is little doubt that China’s activities have provoked a more proactive Indian approach, both at the government and business level, towards East Africa and the continent at large. The conference examined recent government and private sector initiatives in the region that could provide a constructive and replicable model for the evolving patterns of India’s diplomatic engagement with the African continent. Included in this were geo-political factors, oil and mineral resources development aid, foreign direct investment, business-to-business interactions, issues relating to good governance and the challenges of identity and assimilation among the Indian diaspora.
The conference brought together experts with direct knowledge and experience of the region to identify those aspects of India’s historical linkages with the region which have contemporary and forward looking relevance, and to explore the path for a more robust partnership in years to come. They included Amb. Sudhir Devare, Director-General of Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA), Amb. Niranjan Desai, India’s former High Commissioner to Uganda, Amb.Dilip Lahiri, Distinguished Fellow, ORF, Prof. Sanjukta Bhattacharya of Jadavpur University, Dr. Suresh Kumar of the Department of Delhi University, Manish Chand, Editor of Africa Quarterly, Dr.Renu Modi of ORF Mumbai University and Ruchita Beri of IDSA.
Two specific proposals which were put forward at the seminar were endorsed for follow-up. One was to produce a study/book focusing on 10 success stories of Indian business organizations and NGOs in Africa that will enable a better public perception, both in India and in Africa, of the opportunities for creating a win-win partnership between India and Africa. It will focus on human resource development, infrastructure creation and technology transfer. Marketing India’s success stories has become more important in an increasingly competitive African market and in view of China’s increased investment in its soft power projection. Although India has a clear soft power advantage in forms of Indian influence on language, cuisine and music and its omnipresent Bollywood film industry, it was felt India should also scale up its investment in cultural diplomacy.
The second important proposal was to set up a Track II dialogue between India and Africa, starting with the East African region. The Track II initiative will focus on creating a multi-layered dialogue between think tanks, public policy institutions, intellectuals, writers and thinkers and the media from both sides.
The Track II proposal was actively debated by participants. ORF and ICWA were requested to work together to realise the proposal. Suggestions made by participants to give concrete form to Track II dialogue included:
ORF has embarked on developing a continuing programme of East African Studies and Research, focusing on various issues that will have a direct bearing on the Africa growth story and globalising India’s engagement with the continent. This programme is the result of a successful international conference ORF had organised in November 2008, with the theme of “Engaging with a Resurgent Africa”. During 2009, ORF’s Africa Programme has as its focus two key regions of Africa with sharply contrasting profiles: the economically vibrant East Africa that is rapidly integrating into world economy and Francophone Africa, a resource-rich region which could potentially be the richest in the world but has been mired in strife and instability.
As part of this programme, ORF organised a seminar on India’s changing relationship with East Africa on June 5, 2009. East Africa is the fastest growing region in the resource-rich continent. India has a long-standing relationship with the region and an enterprising and successful diaspora has been living there for over a century. In recent years, the engagement has acquired a sharper business focus with top Indian businesses establishing their presence in East Africa.
The seminar took an overview of India’s historical and cultural ties with the region and explored in detail various aspects of India’s deepening relationship with East Africa. This included trade and investment, the Indian diaspora, energy security, security and counter-terrorism, and cooperation on global issues like WTO talks and climate change.
It was generally felt that, despite long-standing ties, the relationship is far short of its full potential. Bilateral trade and investment are growing, but are yet to acquire a critical mass. Despite living in East African countries for over a century, the Indian diaspora suffers from an image problem and are often perceived as a profit-driven community that keeps its distance from the Africans. Latent tensions manifest themselves from time to time in the form of the targeting of Indians in response to local economic and other problems. This has an obvious spill-over effect on attitudes towards India.
The participants and discussants noted the striking knowledge and information gap between people of India and East Africa. Meaningful media coverage was virtually nonexistent. The persistence of stereotypes and a lack of mutual understanding and awareness have come in the way of a fuller engagement between India and East Africa,. The media, it was felt, has a critical role in transforming public perception of each other and needed to be drawn in for a more robust engagement.
The shifting landscape of India’s engagement with East Africa, especially in the context of competition from other external actors such as China, was exhaustively discussed. While India insists that it is not in competition with any other external player in Africa, there is little doubt that China’s activities have provoked a more proactive Indian approach, both at the government and business level, towards East Africa and the continent at large. The conference examined recent government and private sector initiatives in the region that could provide a constructive and replicable model for the evolving patterns of India’s diplomatic engagement with the African continent. Included in this were geo-political factors, oil and mineral resources development aid, foreign direct investment, business-to-business interactions, issues relating to good governance and the challenges of identity and assimilation among the Indian diaspora.
The conference brought together experts with direct knowledge and experience of the region to identify those aspects of India’s historical linkages with the region which have contemporary and forward looking relevance, and to explore the path for a more robust partnership in years to come. They included Amb. Sudhir Devare, Director-General of Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA), Amb. Niranjan Desai, India’s former High Commissioner to Uganda, Amb.Dilip Lahiri, Distinguished Fellow, ORF, Prof. Sanjukta Bhattacharya of Jadavpur University, Dr. Suresh Kumar of the Department of Delhi University, Manish Chand, Editor of Africa Quarterly, Dr.Renu Modi of ORF Mumbai University and Ruchita Beri of IDSA.
Two specific proposals which were put forward at the seminar were endorsed for follow-up. One was to produce a study/book focusing on 10 success stories of Indian business organizations and NGOs in Africa that will enable a better public perception, both in India and in Africa, of the opportunities for creating a win-win partnership between India and Africa. It will focus on human resource development, infrastructure creation and technology transfer. Marketing India’s success stories has become more important in an increasingly competitive African market and in view of China’s increased investment in its soft power projection. Although India has a clear soft power advantage in forms of Indian influence on language, cuisine and music and its omnipresent Bollywood film industry, it was felt India should also scale up its investment in cultural diplomacy.
The second important proposal was to set up a Track II dialogue between India and Africa, starting with the East African region. The Track II initiative will focus on creating a multi-layered dialogue between think tanks, public policy institutions, intellectuals, writers and thinkers and the media from both sides.
The Track II proposal was actively debated by participants. ORF and ICWA were requested to work together to realise the proposal. Suggestions made by participants to give concrete form to Track II dialogue included:
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