New book to shed light on India’s Africa policy

For most scholars and foreign policy specialists in Francophone Africa, India seems to be a blind spot, in the study of the relationships between Africa and the emerging powers, and almost all their attention is dedicated to China.

The main purpose of this book, which is one of the first published in French about India's African policy, is to correct this situation, by shedding light on New Delhi's ambitions in the continent, and make African leaders and public opinion aware of the new “Indian reality” that is currently taking shape in Africa. This cannot be more depicted than by the fact that, from its insignificant volume of $3 billion around year 2000, trade between India and Africa has skyrocketed to almost $70 billion currently, and it is projected to reach $90 billion by 2015. Though far from the $200 billion volume of China-Africa trade, this progression is worth pointing out, and reveals a trend in the deepening of Indo-African trade ties between, as well as the economic shift in India's foreign policy as revealed by the visionary Sanjay Baru when he wrote in his groundbreaking book, Strategic Consequences of India's Economic Performance: Essays & Columns, that: " the time has come, (…) when trade has to fly the flag than just follow it."

These ties are also built in the political and diplomatic spheres whereby India has engaged the African countries in order to build a political influence that can help it in certain subjects, the reform of the UN Security Council being the most important of all. However, in the discussions on climate change, or on World Trade Organization rules, India's also trying to build a block with countries from the South, especially Africa.

These political and diplomatic ties are strengthened through more efforts, from the Indian end, in development cooperation. This is done by the extension of lines of credits to African countries, and through technical cooperation and capacity building, which has been for a long time the brand image of India’s diplomacy not just in Africa. India has increased its programs towards Africa in the recent years, and programs such as Team 9, PanAfrican eNetwork and Focus Africa have helped a lot to increase New Delhi's presence in the continent, as well its exposure to African public opinion.

Energy is one of the main determinants of the new India African policy, whereby India tries to secure oil and gas resources in Africa to meet its growing energy needs. This is done through investments in the upstream sector, with Indian companies acquiring oil and gas assets in major exploration projects. But it also includes investment in the downstream sector, with acquisition of exploitation blocks and refineries, which all result in an increase of oil imports from Africa. India's energy diplomacy in Africa also involves uranium, whereby India, due to the sanctions imposed to her for not being part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), tries to access this resource in Africa. One should mention though, that these sanctions seem to be now fading away because of the US-India nuclear deal.

Being separated from Africa by the Indian Ocean, the latter is also an important component of India's African policy. The Indian Ocean is an umbilical cord that connects India to the world, and almost 90% of its trade transits through it. Therefore, it becomes more than critical to India to secure this eponymous sea, in a context where China seems to set an eye on it through her "String of Pearls" strategy. The book identifies what the author calls a "Varuna Triangle" in which India tries to contain China's strategy, and which involves African countries that are located on the littoral of the Indian Ocean from the Horn of Africa to the Cape of Good Hope, but also the African island states in this important sea, namely Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar. Through naval diplomacy, and the opening of listening posts, India is aiming at securing its external trade and countering the presence of China in the region.

In the last part of the book, the author calls upon the African states to engage their “Look East policy” by focusing more on the relationships with emerging powers, especially India. According to the author, the African countries should consider more India, which seems to engage African countries with an approach that can help them make the most of their resources. India's approach seems to put lot of emphasis on technical cooperation and capacity building, through the creation of training institutes (India Africa Diamond Institute in Bostwana), the upgrade of existing ones, or just through scholarships under ITEC and other programs. As former president of Ghana, John Kuoffour stated: “the [Indian] approach seems to consist of marrying African resources to India expertise.”This is important for Africa, as it will help it participate more in the global value chains, and raise its increase its share of world trade.

The author calls upon India to be more assertive in its African engagement. One way to achieve that is by increasing the frequency of the high level visits in the continent and by widening their reach, as they have been mainly limited so far in Eastern and Southern Africa.

The future of India's African policy, for the author, should consist of preserving a legacy and fulfilling a prophecy. The Legacy of the great Mahatma Gandhi for whom the trade between Africa and India should not be a mere exchange of raw materials and manufactured products as it is case with the former colonial exploiters, but an exchange of values and ideas. The prophecy of Pandit Jawaharlul Nehru for whom, Africa and India are the future of the world.

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