India to host third African summit in October
The summit has been scheduled for 26-30 October, said a foreign ministry official
New delhi: India is set to host the heads of states and governments of all 54 African countries for the third India-Africa Forum summit in October, in a departure from previous instances when India met with a representative group from Africa, foreign ministry officials said Wednesday.
The summit, India’s biggest outreach event for Africa that was to be held on 4 December, was postponed due to the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.
After consultations with the African Union, the third India-Africa summit has been scheduled for 26-30 October, said Navtej Sarna, secretary west in the foreign ministry.
On 26 October, India will host senior officials of the 54 countries while on 27 October, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj will host her African counterparts. The summit between the Indian government and African heads of state will take place on 29 October, with 30 October set aside for bilateral meetings between visiting heads of state and Prime Minister Narenda Modi, Sarna said.
This will be the third summit in the series; the first was held in New Delhi in 2008 while the second was organised in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in 2011.
“The difference in this one is going to be that in order to fully reflect the way we are engaging the continent, we would be inviting all 54 members of Africa, unlike in the previous summits, where the engagement was with a limited number (of African leaders) according to a formula worked out by the AU (African Union)," Sarna told reporters in New Delhi. The summit would give India a chance to assess its overall engagement with Africa and “will provide future direction to this engagement in the coming years," Sarna added.
Giving an outline of India’s engagement with Africa in the past decade, Sarna said India had extended soft loans to the tune of $7 billion, was engaged in capacity building and had opened three vocational training centres—in Ethiopia, Burundi and Rwanda. India had also extended 22,000 scholarships for African students, Sarna said.
Bilateral trade has crossed $70 billion while Indian investment in Africa totalled $32 billion, Sarna added.
On India voting for a Russian-drafted resolution that opposed benefits for same-sex partners of United Nations staff in New York, Akbaruddin said that the UN had until recently a system whereby they would decide emoluments depending on the laws of the country where the diplomats came from. This was changed unilaterally by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on his “own accord."
“Our objection was one of change by the secretariat without consulting the countries concerned about this," Akbaruddin said.
On the visit of the Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, people familiar with the discussions said, India had sought Qatar’s help in rescuing 39 Indians held hostage by militant outfit the Islamic State as the two countries discussed enhanced cooperation in key areas of defence, security and trade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani held extensive talks covering entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues after which the two sides signed six agreements, one of the people cited above said.
The 39 Indians were kidnapped by Islamic State from Mosul in war-ravaged Iraq in June.
Briefing reporters, Akbaruddin said Thani had told Modi that “he trusts the Indian economy" and Modi’s vision for development of the country.
Thani also conveyed that it was time for Qatar to look seriously to enhance investment in India and noted that a mechanism to identify potential projects in India will be set up soon, Akbaruddin said. The Indian side told the Qatari Emir that the country can look for investing in ongoing projects in sectors like defence, railways and highways as returns on government-run projects will be secure.
Modi on his part, outlined his vision of Make in India for defence and conveyed to the visiting dignitary that India was serious in enhancing defence production which will enable it to provide equipment to its partners. India also sought investment opportunities for Indian companies in various infrastructure projects as the Gulf nation was hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!