DICTATION EXERCISE - 7

Good evening friends.  Thank you for patiently waiting for us.  We just concluded a very historic summit.  It is the third India-Africa Forum Summit but it is the first of its kind.  This is the first time that we have had the presence of leaders from all 54 African countries in New Delhi and of course, the presence of the chairperson of the African Union Commission.  You all have been following this Summit closely, so I don’t need to go into details of all the statements that were made. I am sure you already have copies of all the statements.  

I am just to say that all the Heads of State of Governments, Vice Presidents as well as the Chairperson of the African Union Commission spoke today besides, of course, the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi.  So, we (140) actually had 43 speakers today.  I will just give you the programmatic detail.  Besides the 43 speakers, we had the (160) formal adoption of the Political Declaration as well as the India-Africa Strategic Framework of Cooperation.  There was also the release of the special stamp to commemorate the Summit as well as the release of the special coin which has been issued by the Government of India to commemorate this historic Summit.  This was done by the Prime Minister together with the Chairperson of the AU President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, the Chairperson of the AU Commission Ms. Zuma and of course the Finance Minister, External Affairs Minister and Minister of State for External Affairs were present.  Besides, Secretary spot show presented this stamp.

This concludes the formal part of the Summit.  There is a banquet by the President this evening for (280) which the leaders will now be reaching. Of course, parallel to all this, there have been a string of bilateral meetings, both at the Prime Ministerial level as well as at the Foreign Minister level and there have been a (320) few calls also at the President level.  So, we will give you these details by and by.  But what is important is that you already have the Prime Minister’s Statement and I am sure it has been reported at length already- the major announcements that have been made as part of the comprehensive perspective that we have taken on Africa which is built into the rest of the Statement.  So, I would request you not only to look at the last paragraph but to go back and see the depth of engagement on which those announcements are pegged.  This is also (420) the spirit behind the two documents which will not be available with you. 

If you see the Declaration, it reflects the common themes that we have heard throughout the day today, essentially the theme that both Africa and India are at a very important stage in terms of not only their own development but how they engage with each other (480) for mutual benefit.  Clearly, this is a historic stepping-stone to a greater engagement.  The context of the Summit is important.  This is India and Africa engaging like never before in numbers.  It comes few months after the adoption of Agenda 2063 by the African leaders.  It comes just a month before Cop-21, something which is of critical interest, not only to India but to African countries, whether they are desert or semi-desert countries, whether they are small island States, whether (560) they are countries which are at a certain stage of development that if they have to go green they need finances and the technology and the means of development and the assistance for that.  So, there are all sorts of perspectives merging into the climate change debate which you have heard about today.  It comes just a month before the WTO meeting in Nairobi.  Trade has been a major theme that we have heard throughout the day.  It is not (640) only the India-Africa trade which incidentally has doubled in the last 5 years and multiplied manifold in the last 15 years to reach a very impressive figure of about USD 72 billion.  So, how the world is moving towards an equitable trade regime is something which is of very great importance. 

The documents touch on many themes.  They touch on (700) the commonalities between India and Africa; they touch on the priorities of sustainable development so that we are aligning our moves, our priorities, and our means of implementation with what the UN has decided with the cooperation of all of us as the sustainable development agenda 2030.  The documents also talk of major challenges.  They talk of terrorism, and the need to counter this in a broader context of peace and security.  Conflict is the enemy of development.  Terrorism is the enemy of development.  So, when we are working together for development, we also have to work against conflict, we (800) also have to work against terrorism.  So, there has been a call in the Declaration to work together on all kinds of terrorism; there is no excuse, there should be zero tolerance for terrorism. 

There has been reflection here as (840) to how we engage together more in peace and security efforts like peacekeeping at which India has already been deeply engaged with Africa having participated in 11 peacekeeping operations there, but also in terms of strengthening the African peacekeeping efforts.  A greater gender consciousness is being brought into peacekeeping.  Gender consciousness brings me to the idea of women empowerment which is again reflected in the documents.  This is something which is of tremendous importance to all of us.  Energy is another area which finds a lot of attention and focus and particularly renewable energy. 

There are also areas which I would attract your attention to, which are of emerging interest to Africa, for instance, the blue economy and you will (960) find that attention here, because there are not only the island countries but also the coastal countries.  Africa, if I (980) am not wrong, has about 26,000 kilometres long coastline and the ocean is a huge asset in terms of providing energy, in terms of sustainable fishery, in terms of biodiversity.  It is also a challenge in terms of security- maritime security.   Engagement of India and Africa on maritime security has been extensive. We have done anti-piracy patrols by the Indian Navy for years very successfully.  We provided protection where necessary to coastal States.  We have built up capacity in several African countries by equipment, training and cooperation to build up the inherent maritime security capabilities of these countries.  We have done hydrographic surveys for several countries.   This is something which is a clearly felt need.  Let me tell you that the entire approach behind the documents has been ‘let us work together in areas where we both want to work (1120) together; let us work together in areas which are our strengths.’  So, it is a partnership of mutual benefit based on mutual strengths. 

Capacity building is a very important area you heard this morning.  Hon. Prime Minister of India announced that in the next 5 years, there will be 50,000 scholarships.  With each of our African interlocutors, there has been this felt need that India should provide more training. We do it virtually, we do physically.  We have a pan-African network which the Prime Minister announced would be expanded.  We already have it in 48 countries and we had it successfully for few years.  It is both for education and for health.  So, within these 50,000 scholarships, you will see the core of eventual India-Africa virtual university. 

You heard the other announcements by the Prime Minister and this is again (1260) reflected in these documents.  The Prime Minister announced USD 10 billion of fresh concessional lines of credit over the next 5 years.  This follows up on what we have already done.  We have already approved about USD 7.4 billion since the first Summit and USD 9 billion if you go back 10 years.  Out of that, we are already working on 137 projects in 41 countries.  So, now the fresh lines of credit- what would they be used for?  You will find that reflection in the Strategic Framework.  There is a need for infrastructure building.  A repeated need we have heard for rural electrification.  As the Prime Minister said, when the sun sets, hundreds and thousands of homes in India and Africa go dark.  So, we have to work together. 

There is a need for solar electrification; there is a (1400) need for healthcare, for building hospitals; there is a need for industry and creation of jobs.  Then there are sugar plants.  We have been asked by many countries, ‘We have sugar; we can’t process it.  Can we work together to set up sugar plants and create jobs?’  Creation of jobs is critical.  You have 65 per cent of population of Africa’s under-35.  This is something which is the same virtually in India.  So, when the Prime Minister said that one-third of humanity was represented in that room today, it means that a large preponderance of that one-third humanity is very young and they need jobs.  So, the industry, the creation of employment- these will be the purposes of this concessional credit. 

You also heard of the announcements of USD 600 million as grant.  This is essentially institution building.  (1540) We have  several institutions already being worked on and the next grants will go for the expansion of some of these institutions where we have felt that the money budgeted for them was not enough.  So, we have to put more money as well as a USD 100 million India-Africa development fund which is part of this larger grant, which will be development projects we have agreed with our bilateral and African partners, which they would like to see on a regional basis or on a continental basis.  These are idea which will not work out.  (1634)