|
Round
The World
New
Delhi, 29 July 2022
India-Gabon Ties
BUILDING ON
OPPORTUNITIES
By Dr D.K. Giri
(Prof. International
Relations, JIMMC)
Last week a bevy of diplomats and high-level
ministers from several African countries descended on the national capital New
Delhi for a two-day business summit. This was 17th edition of the
conclave launched by CII-Exim Bank on India-Africa Growth Partnership,
seventeen years ago in 2005. This conclave has the support of India’s
Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce and Industry. It is reported that,
over the years, this format of exchange, “has emerged as one of the largest
congregations of senior ministers, policy makers and business leaders from
Africa and India. Cutting across sectors, and has played a vital role in
encouraging Indian companies to make and grow their footprint in Africa”.
It is perhaps in order that India should look
towards Africa for trade and investment as this Continent will prove to be the
future of the world economy. An expert on Indian economy, a French national,
Jean-Joseph Boillot has made the prediction, in his book ‘Chinafrique,
avez-vous dit’? (Chinafrica, did you say?) that China-India-Africa will
shape tomorrow’s world. He says that China’s economy will peak whereas those of
India and Africa will grow. India should consciously heed such predictions by
experts, position herself in order to grab the opportunities beckoning in
Africa.
So far, trade between the African Sub-Continent
and India amounts to 6.4 per cent of total African trade. This was the figure
from Afriexim Bank, showing an increase from 7.2 billion USD in 2001 to 66.7 billion
USD in 2020, making India the fourth largest trading partner of Africa – around
8 per cent of Indian imports are from Africa and 9 per cent exports to the
Continent. India is the eighth largest investor in Africa, combining both
public and private sector enterprises.
Lines of Credit (LOCs) worth 12.26 billion
USD have so far been extended to African countries making them the second
largest recipient of India’s concessional loans. Thirty eight African countries
have benefited from India’s Duty Free Tariff Preference scheme (DFTP), which
provides duty free access to 98.2 per cent of India’s total tariff lines. In
the pandemic, under the Vaccine Maitri Initiative, India supplied 24.7 million
dozes of made-in-India Covid vaccines to 42 countries in Africa. So far so
good.
Yet, India has a long way to traverse, as
Africa is a huge Continent. It can be covered as Indian economy picks up at
home. Another issue to factor in any international trade talks is China as the
elephant in the room. Boillot takes this into account in his book and suggests
that, eventually, India will overtake China in Africa. Let us, however, be
clear that it is not automatic.
As a sample of the opportunities to explore,
let us look at a Central-African country, Gabon. A delegation of a dozen people
comprising ministers and diplomats interacted with the Indian business
community in Delhi at the behest of a voluntary trade promotion agency called
‘Indian Economic Trade Organisation’ based in Bengaluru. Also, Gabon hosted
only couple of months ago, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu whose visit was
first Vice-Presidential visit to the country. The Vice-President reiterated the
‘commitment of Government of India to be Gabon’s reliable partner in its
development journey’. On his meetings with President of the Senate of Gabon and
the Speaker of Gabonese National Assembly, Naidu gifted them the replicas of
original Indian Constitution emphasising the importance of shared values of
democracy and pluralism in India-Gabon bilaterlaism.
As per the GoI’s perception, Gabon is a
significant partner of India. Both the countries are currently serving as non-permanent
members of the UNSC. The trade between the two countries has reached 1.12
billion USD in 2021-22. About 1000 Indians live in Gabon. A number of Gabonese
nationals pursue scholarship/training programmes provided by the Indian
Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and Indian Council for Cultural
Relations (ICCR). In business sector, over 50 Indian companies are engaged in
Gabon Special Economic Zone. Talks are on about advancing cooperation across
the sectors including trade, investment, energy, IT, capacity building, health,
pharmaceuticals and more.
In the interaction in New Delhi, Gabon
delegation acknowledged the cultural similarity – pluralism and diversity – between
the two countries. They expressed their keen desire to do business with India.
In my short presentation, I pointed out the similarity of history and prospects
of a shared future. Both India and Africa were colonised and have inherited
political systems which are not co-terminus with their societies. They have the
challenge of reconciling their multiple identities of language and ethnicity
etc.
A sharp and pointed observation drew very
positive response from their Foreign Minister Moussa-Adamo. The remark was that
India happens perforce to compete with China in foreign trade. At the moment,
China is much bigger economy than India, which has social and political capital,
which China does not. So the choice for the partners is between democracy,
pluralism and development (India) and autocracy, totalitarianism and exclusion.
The response to the above remark was, “we
have deliberately decided to go with India. We understand democracy could be
slow and cumbersome but it is a sustainable political system reconciling multiple
interests and providing space for every citizen of the country. India is an
example as well as inspiration for many of us in Africa”. That was an
encouraging note to build relations with. The Gabonese delegation then
presented elaborately the scope of business cooperation.
Gabon is a country of two million people,
with 85 per cent of forest coverage and 850 kms of coastline. It is the second
world producer of high grade manganese, second global producer of veneer seeds,
one of the top two in Africa in GDP per capita, seventh Sub-Saharan African oil
producer. In order to relaunch the national economy, hit hard by the pandemic,
Gabon has committed itself to a Transformation Acceleration Plan (PAT). It is
aimed at diversification and structural transformation of the economy over the
period 2021/2023. The plan is also based on acknowledging the gradual decline
of oil and the rise of new sectors owing to exploitation of natural resources –
mining, agriculture, wood, fishing etc.
The opportunities outlined consisted of
fishing sector – construction of a Tuna processing plant in the capital town of
Libreville in order to enhance storage and processing capacities;
infrastructure sector – construction of a new railway line between Owendo and
Booue in order to transport iron ore, and construction of the administrative
city: forestry sector – reforestation of 60,000 hectares of forest with
marketable and multi-purpose species (12,000 per year) in order to identify
harvested and un-harvested species; agriculture sector, two agro-industries to
be developed in Andem and Congo in order to intensify the diversity of the
economy through modern agro-industry and reduce food imports; energy sector –
development of an energy project in order to secure and guarantee the supply of
energy in Gabon.
To sum up, not only India, many countries in
the world are far more interested than before in this Continent. India has the
advantage of language and cultural affinity. As expressed by the minister from
Gabon, the appreciation of India’s support for democratic practices, processes
and institutions is growing in Africa. So India must look at the Continent, but
engage with countries individually like the promising land of Gabon. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
New Delhi
27 July 2022
|
Archives 
