Round The World
New Delhi, 16 June 2023
India-Africa Conclave
Track-Two Diplomacy
By Dr. D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Assn for Democratic
Socialism)
This piece on India-Africa relations and Track-Two Diplomacy
has reference to the 18th CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) –
Exim Bank Conclave on India-Africa, New Delhi (14-16 June, 2023). The theme of
this conference is quite appealing in the current situation, “Growth
Partnership, Creating a Shared Future”. It has 11 sessions, plenaries, specific
country sessions, networking events and cultural programmes.
Before discussing the sessions and their imperatives,
let’s talk about track-two diplomacy in building international relations. This
phrase and strategy came into existence when a US State Department official
referred to the need of the non-state actors’ efforts at conflict resolution.
J. Monteville elaborated this concept in 1991 in a book called ‘Track-Two
Diplomacy: The Arrow and Olive Branch’. The concept is defined as,
“Unofficial, informal interaction between members of groups or nations that aim
to develop strategies, to influence public opinion, to organise human and
material resources in ways that might resolve their conflict. Track-Two
diplomacy complements the Track-One negotiations”. Clearly, the strategy is not
to substitute the official diplomacy conducted inter-governmentally, but to
support it.
Although the Track-Two diplomacy was talked about initially
in the context of conflict resolution, it has been widely used since for conducting
bilateral and multi-lateral relations and transactions. I am reminded of such
an initiative in 1980s taken by a former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Morarji
Desai’s government. Having realised the limitations of traditional diplomacy,
the Minister, after demitting office when his government fell, had set up an
organisation called ‘India-Africa Centre’. Among other things, the Centre
organised a massive signature campaign in India of five thousand prominent
citizens for a Memorandum submitted to the UN demanding the release of Nelson
Mandela from the jail in Robben Island.
Interestingly, in response to the Memorandum, members
of the UN Anti-Apartheid Committee flew to India to talk to some of the
signatories. As a student of international politics and the Secretary of
India-Africa Centre, I was involved in the campaign. I remember working closely
with then ANC (African National Congress), S. Molifi, who shared the traumatic
experience of black South Africans in the hands of the apartheid regime. He
said, in one of the meetings, how the “black South Africans were hunted,
hounded and harassed.”
However, that is history. A similar organisation is
doing commendable work in enhancing India-Africa relations using Track-Two Diplomacy.
Reflecting the shift of emphasises from politics to trade and economics, the
organisation headquartered at Bangalore, has perhaps named itself as Indian
Economic Trade Organisation (IETO). The main mission of IETO is to promote
Indian trade and business in several parts of the world. It uses a
multi-pronged creative approach to open doors, widen contacts and deepen
engagements. It also encourages and facilitates entrepreneurs from abroad to
engage with the Indian state and market.
IETO has built another agency aimed particularly at
Africa, called ‘India-Africa Trade Council’ (IATC). “It engages business in
India and African countries by offering un-paralleled access to Industry specific
trade data, business introduction, networking opportunities, education,
collaboration, investment opportunities, documentation, trade license etc. IATC
was conferring India-Africa awards 2023 on the fringe of the said Conclave.
The annual award was instituted in 2017 with its first
ceremony in Bangalore in order to encourage and specially honour African
excellence. IATC says that India-African achiever award is given to
entrepreneurs, community builders and promoters of bilateral relations. The
individuals and institutions receiving the awards come from both developmental
as well as government sectors dealing with India-Africa relations.
IATC initiative in awarding people goes well with the
advice offered by the leadership gurus like John C. Maxwell on the importance
of recognition and the art of appreciation. Recognition of someone’s work goes
a long way in inspiring the awardees themselves in doing more and others to do
similar work. IATC says in their promotion literature, “One person’s
achievement can inspire a community, can bring hope to the entire country, and
can lead a continent towards excellence.” It is envisaged that African
delegates attending the summit will go back with some memorable take-aways in
the form of awards presented by IATC.
The categories of award include a wide range of
activities and sectors such as business performance, social cause, CSR
practice, leadership, IT education, sustainable development, tourism, climate
change, women empowerment, community benefit, conservation, healthcare,
automobile, banking and finance, construction, manufacturing, hotel industries,
travel portal, hospitality, model IT companies and so on.
The categories mentioned above mirror the sessions set
out for the conclave. The sessions include India-Africa synergies for shared
growth, space sector partnership, exploring new models of financing growth,
transforming infrastructure for Africa’s development, creating value chains in
agriculture and food processing, defence industry cooperation, manufacturing,
digital transformation, partnership for education and skilled development,
harnessing critical minerals, tri-lateral partnership, water security, green
and clean energy, health etc. Out of these, the tri-lateral partnership is quite
promising. India has already started building such partnerships with UAE, in
Ethiopia for IT excellence and with Germany, in Cameroon, Ghana and Malawi for
boosting local economy on job creation. India along with France is looking at
North Africa and West Africa. India-Africa-UK trilateral cooperation focuses on
issues of energy, climate change, health and nutrition and education.
To my mind, India and Africa as two continents with
broad similarities representing one third of world’s population must come
closer. India, the most populous country, which I call a continent because of
its depth and diversity, has a population of 1,419,866,913 at the time of
writing representing 17.7 per cent of world population and Africa has
1,143,115,522 i.e. 16.72 per cent of world population. Looking at another
figure, the continent of Africa has 60 per cent of world’s arable land, but
produces just 10 per cent of the global output. Africa has a huge future but
now needs world attention because of its critical developmental and political
needs.
India has a long history of political, economic and
cultural connections with the African continent. Since its independence, India
has put priority in its foreign policy on Africa as the latter was also
fighting for its liberation from colonial powers. The present regime in New
Delhi has admittedly shown extraordinary tenacity of purpose in enhancing
India’s long standing ties with the African continent.
The efforts of non-state actors like the one mentioned
above and possibly others are noteworthy and need to be supported so that they
augment governmental initiatives in fostering India-Africa developmental
cooperation. Quite a few international economists have predicted a promising
future for the economies of India and Africa as Chinese economy peaks. Let the
aforesaid India-Africa conclave and such bilateral events backed by Track-Two
diplomacy grab any opportunity in building the shared future. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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