Ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Africa, the government is trying to step up its Africa outreach by involving the States in a major boost to its ties with Africa.
Though the promotion of States in foreign affairs had begun with the opening of the Centre-States division in the Ministry of External Affairs two years ago, countries like Mali and Tunisia have added to Africa’s ties with India’s States by coming up with plans for engaging the States.
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Sources told The Hindu that key ambassadors to African countries and MEA officials made visits to State capitals including Chennai to seek business opportunities and build better people-to-people contacts.
“Mali is one of the top cotton producers of the world and so is India. We have focussed on Tamil Nadu which is one of the most important centres of textile industry in India for this and Mali will send a delegation to India in July to firm up ties in the textile sector,” Malian Ambassador Niankoro Yeah Samake told
Though South Africa was the first from Africa to begin State-centric approach by forging ties with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Mr. Samake says time has come for other African states also to look beyond the big cities of India. “From education, to IT, to tourism, we can work together in a vast number of areas,” he said.
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Like Mali, Sudan too made an impact this year by sending its Defence Minister Ahmad Awaf Ibn Auf for Defexpo 2016 in Goa where the Minister held official meetings and highlighted Sudan’s preference for doing business away from Delhi. “We have been focussed on Gujarat, Maharashtra and the western India in general,” said a Sudanese diplomat.
Professor Ajay Dubey of JNU’s Centre for African Studies says that though the government has been successful in popularising Indian States in countries like China, Russia and in Europe, African countries have just recently begun to show greater interest to engage the Indian States. “There is greater pressure from Africa’s booming economies to invest in favourable States in India and that apart, the Indian diaspora in Africa is persuading African leaders to look toward Indian States,” Prof. Dubey said.
The State-focus was visible also during the latest visit of Vice-President Hamid Ansari to Tunisia and Morocco which have emerged as crucial sources for phosphate for India. “Phosphate is the main item that Tunisia is selling to India and phosphate trade has drawn Tunisia towards Gujarat due to the State’s history of being business-friendly and the Gujarat State Fertilizer and Chemicals Ltd which is a major partner of Tunisia,” said a Tunisian source. Tunisia has forged strong relations with both Gujarat and southern India and India-Tunisia ties will focus on its existing State ties in the years ahead.
Students’ well-beingDiplomats pointed out that another reason for exploring the States of India is due to the fact that almost 30,000 African students study in educational hotspots of Maharashtra, Punjab, and smaller towns of Karnataka and it is by maintaining working relations with the States so that the African students can be well looked after.