Wrapping up his six-day tour to three African countries, as part of India’s endeavour to deepen its economic engagement, President Pranab Mukherjee has said that New Delhi will soon examine Ghana’s request for cooperation in civil nuclear energy. At the end of his tour, the perception is that it is a herculean task for India to match China’s huge investments on the continent.
“We have got into the act a bit late in the day, though only time would tell if it is a case of too little,” a senior member of the official delegation on the trip said. After the third India Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi last October, India has been working to consolidate and strengthen its engagement with Africa.
Talking to presspersons accompanying him on the visit on his way back, the President said a series of high-level visits were taking place from India to Africa this year.
On the Ghanian proposal for civil nuclear cooperation, the President said, “Although the details are yet to be worked out, in principle, we have agreed that we will examine civil nuclear cooperation.”
“There are questions of cooperation in technology, cooperation in the supply of raw material, availability of uranium and also in sharing the experiences because we are also new in the area of the nuclear technology.”
In a statement to the media on the visit, Mr. Mukherjee said that his visits to Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire were the first by an Indian President. The second visit to Namibia by an Indian President had come after a gap of 21 years.
“These visits reflect the importance that India attaches to enhancing our bilateral relations with these important countries of Africa,” he said.
As a candidate pushing its case for a membership to the Security Council, reforms to the United Nations was the other major theme that echoed in his talks with leaders of the three countries.
Need for U.N reforms “I raised the need for reforms of the U.N., particularly the U.N. Security Council. There was agreement that the present structure does not reflect current realities and those reforms have been delayed for too long. The leaders of all three countries expressed the view that there is need for urgent reform of the U.N. India, with one-sixth of world’s population as well as the African continent must be represented in the U.N. Security Council,” the President said.
