The Millennial India International Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (MIICCIA) hosted a Business Meet :“India & Africa : Partners in Growth, Prosperity and Shared Destiny”, on the 18th October, 2019.
The conference deliberated to collectively identify suitable economic opportunities in African countries and to create reliable networks for the Indian business and industry in a unique format where the Ambassadors of many countries shared their perspectives and business opportunities available in their respective countries. Senior Government officials spoke on the way forward. Representatives from EXIM Bank, ECGC, WAPCOS spoke about their partnerships & success stories with African countries.
MIICCIA’s President Ambassador Anil Trigunayat in his brief welcome address said that India has an umbilical connection with Africa. Over the last 5 years or so, lackadaisical approach of the past has changed to focused priority of the present. Not only the PM Modi but also the President, Vice President and Ministers of India have crisscrossed all the African countries engaging and assuring them. India recognises the strategic importance of Africa and feels closer cooperation in security and defence could ensure fight against terrorism. India is maintaining its unique approach of “Share and Care” as Africans themselves are focusing on “Trade not Aid” and strengthening their intra-African connectivity through the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Agreement). Africa, endowed with immense natural resources, is slated to be the biggest market with the largest youngest population in next 2-3 decades. There is a real opportunity to engage with the Continent to enhance our bilateral trade beyond the unreal $70 bn or so. He said Africa is developing, and developing fast. As an example, he said that in Rwanda, medicines are being delivered by drones in far flung areas. Ambassador Trigunayat felt that the second half of this century will belong to Africa.
The Chief Guest at the event was H. E. Dr. Jenfan Muswere, Honorable Deputy Minister of Information & Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services of the Republic of Zimbabwe. In his speech, the Minister recalled that India has always been a partner in Africa’s political and economic emancipation. Trade has grown exponentially during the past decade and is expected to reach US$ 150 billion by 2020-21. He thanked India for organizing several India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) at the Head of State Level to promote growth of trade & investment. The Minister felt that the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) presents great opportunity for India to channel its technological expertise and the region has the capacity to absorb India’s modernized equipment. Reiterating that Zimbabwe is open for business, he sought Indian investments particularly in IT, Pharmaceuticals, Mining, Power, Water, Infrastructure, SMEs and Skill Development. In order to ease business, the Minister said,
Zimbabwe has taken measures to reform investment regime and has extended visa-on-arrival facility to all
Indian nationals.
The Guest of Honour, Ambassador P. Harish, Additional Secretary (ED & States), Ministry of External Affairs in his speech said that Prime Minister Modi, in his speech at the Ugandan parliament on July 25, 2018, laid out the principles of India’s Africa policy; the 10 guiding principles for India-Africa engagement. He reminded that India’s engagement with Africa was on the basis of equality and transparency, and emphasized on the need of connectivity, trade & investment, capacity building and skill enhancement. He added that India was progressing rapidly in the field of renewable energy and desire to share its experience & expertise with African countries. Ambassador Harish exhorted the African Heads of Mission to take up the ‘International Solar Alliance’ Agreement with their governments for urgent ratification of the agreement by their respective countries. Ambassador Harish said while investment is good, trade is a must.
Businesses must not miss on opportunities. Providing an example, he said that Africa, particularly the SADC region, has a thriving market for second-hand cars which are imported from other parts of the world. India’s second-hand automobile industry has matured enough to even have digital platform, but the industry seems to have failed to take notice of the African market.
H. E. Mr. Mohamed Maliki, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco said India has always been held in high esteem by Africans, and has been a focus country. India has been a partner in
the developmental efforts of Africa. However, more needs to be done in the social sectors including education. India has achieved high standards in education and it could be shared with
African countries by establishing institutions of learning on African soils for training of Africans in Africa according to the local needs. Such institutions could be run jointly by Indians and Africans. No doubt such institutions need to make money, but the motto should be to grow together. He further said that in the social sector more emphasis should be provided to agriculture and drinking water. He also stressed on the need of more connectivity by air and sea.
Ambassador Dr. B. Bala Bhaskar, Joint Secretary (West Asia & North Africa), Ministry of
External Affairs felt that there is an emerging shift of strategic importance from the Gulf to the
West & North African region. More and more sea ports are coming up in this region including
Somalia. The region is rich in rock phosphate and 80% of India’s requirement is met by this
region. 18% of our energy need come from this region. Agriculture could be a major area of
cooperation by India. Dr. Bhaskar said cooperation in defence equipment is a promising area. He
added that cooperation in education & vocational training is promising as Africa desire to
emulate Indian’s model of development in the social sectors.
H. E. Ms. Jainaba Jagne, High Commissioner of the Republic of Gambia said there has been
exponential growth in the bilateral relations between India & Africa, particularly with Gambia. President
Kovind, Union Ministers of India and several senior government officials visited Gambia during the last
year and half. She mentioned that Gambian Minister for Health, Science & Technology would
arrive on 21st Oct, and the Minister for Petroleum & Energy on 22nd Oct. The High
Commissioner said Gambia wants to learn and emulate Indian model of development.
H. E. Mr. Michael A. N. N. Oquaye Esq, High Commissioner of the Republic of Ghana felt that
contrary to general perception, it is perhaps unwise to club all African countries as a single entity. There
are 54 countries and each one needs to be dealt with separately as each one’s need and capability is
different. To strengthen his argument, he said that all the 54 countries vote individually in UN and other
international organizations (and most of the times India benefit by that). Secondly, the High
Commissioner felt that the terms of India’s concessional loan was not the most favourable. Though the
base interest rate is around 1%, the element of LIBOR is also added which makes it ‘not so favourable’. His
third suggestion was that though India extends financing of local projects, it is limited only to a part
(around 75%) of the project cost while there are countries who are ready to fully finance the project.
Ambassador R. Ravindra, Joint Secretary (Central & West Africa), Ministry of External
Affairs said that of late there is a discernible heightened political engagement with African
countries over the last few years. President Kovind made State Visits to Benin, Gambia and
Guinea. Very recently the Vice-President visited Sierra Leone and Comoros. Political engagements
with all the African countries have been made during the last 5 years. Now it is time for the
businesses & industries to fill the gap. Mr. Ravindra felt that it is not difficult to do business in
Africa, but one needs to be persistent and consistent. He also stressed the need of removal of
trade barriers (wherever it exists) by African governments in the interest of trade & investment.
He stressed that there must be at least some semblance of trade balance.
Providing an overview of India-Africa Trade & Investment, Ms Deepali Agarwal, General
Manager, EXIM Bank said that India’s exports of goods to Africa have risen at an AAGR of 10%
from 2009 to 2018. Exports of pharmaceutical products in 2019 was almost 20% of Africa’s global
imports. Between 2009 to 2018, a total of 369 Indian FDI projects were recorded with a total
investment of US$ 32.69 billion. Mozambique was the largest recipient of Indian FDI. She further
said India has been pro-actively engaging with Africa which is evident from (i) duty free tariff
preference (DETP-LDC) for LDCs; (ii) Pan-African E-Network, succeeded by e-VidyaBharati and e-
AarogyaBharati (e-EBAB network project); and (iii) India-Africa Forum Summits. She further added that
EXIM Bank is present across sectors in order to create sustainable growth and development in Africa.
EXIM Bank’s partnership goals in Africa are aligned to SDGs.
Shri Kumar Sumit Saurav, AGM from Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) said they have
already extended export credit guarantee of US$ 46 billion to 42,000 exporters in 54 countries in Africa
under their liberalized underwriting policy. The 5 largest beneficiaries are South Africa, Kenya, Egypt,
Nigeria and Tanzania. He added that ECGC has so far settled ‘claims’ of Rs. 83,000 Crores. ECGC’s motto is
‘you focus on exports; we cover the risks’.
Mr. Sanjay Singal, Senior Executive Director, WAPCOS Ltd. said the company has successfully
executed 190 projects in diverse social sectors at a total cost of US$ 9.43 billion in African countries.
H. E. Mr. Ernest Rwamucyo, High Commissioner of the Republic of Rwanda in his short speech
said Rwanda believes that bottlenecks are challenges which in turn mean opportunities. Connectivity
between India and African countries has improved considerably. According to World Bank reports, ease
of doing business in African countries has improved. Many countries including Rwanda now extended
visa-on-arrival to Indian nationals. Work permits are issued more easily. Returns on investments are quite
high, sometimes as high as 40%. Africa is particularly looking for investments in manufacturing and
development of social sectors. India’s technologies are quite high, adaptable and transferable and are
most suitable for Africa. He added that investment in training for capacity building will be most beneficial
in the long term.
H. E. Mr. Gabriel P. Sinimbo, High Commissioner of the Republic of Namibia fondly recalled India’s
contribution to Namibia’s freedom struggle. He said that while political engagements are of late
picking up, it was not so for a long time. He added that India’s vision of engagement as equal
partners and ‘shared destiny’ is the ideal model for Africa. In his brief statement, the High
Commissioner requested for more partnership in manufacturing and processing for local produce
for value addition. He advised that there is an old saying in Namibia that “if you want to go fast,
you go alone, but if you walk slowly you find many partners”.
A significant number of Ambassadors & Trade Commissioners from other African
countries also attended the business meet. A large number of people from the Indian businesses
and industries benefitted from the deliberations. 6 large Indian companies from industry and
service sectors gave presentations about their capabilities and details of their engagement in
African countries.
MIICCIA’s main objective is to provide a true international platform to Indian Industry & Business
to work globally and more aggressively. The Event was part of a series of programme titled “Ambassadors
Speak”. The first was “Exploring Latin American Business Opportunities – Prospects & Potentials, followed
by “India – ASEAN: Connecting for Business”, and the third one “India – Central Asia and beyond towards
Growth & Prosperity”. After the present event on “India – Africa”, next in the series is and ‘India – Arab
World”.
18th October, 2019.