incipient[in'si-pee-unt(early,आरंभिक)] trends were noteworthy at the third India-Africa Forum Summit last month.
This time, the government invited all 54 African countries to New Delhi, and among those who came were 40 heads of state. While the shift in policy could be ascribed to this government’s predilection[pre-du'lek-shun(preference,झुकाव)] for spectacular optics, it is also true that the multilateral summit gave India an opportunity to engage with each country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held numerous[nyoo-mu-rus(many,बहुत से)] bilateral discussions with individual leaders and representatives.
This extensive bilateral exercise is tied to a second new policy stance—Modi’s push to forge[forj(devlop,विकसित)] a united front with African nations for a common, but differentiated, negotiating framework in multilateral institutions. In his inaugural speech at the summit, Modi said: “…our global institutions reflect the circumstances of the century that we left behind, not the one we are in today…That is why India and Africa must speak in one voice for reforms of the United Nations, including its Security Council.”
Modi also wants to align African countries to India’s concerns with the global trading regime. This becomes important given the forthcoming World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial in Nairobi in December, where developing countries are likely to make a last-ditch effort to save the Doha Development Round.
Modi said as much in his inaugural speech: “India and Africa seek also a global trading regime that serves our development goals and improves our trade prospects. We should also achieve a permanent solution on public stockholding for food security and special safeguard mechanism in agriculture for the developing countries.”
India’s other attempts to get developing countries on board — to provide Duty Free Tariff Preference (DTFP) to least developed countries on 98 per cent of its tariff lines, including in services — have also produced mixed results, prompting[próm(p)-ting(motivate,प्रोत्साहन)] the government to now fast-track the entire scheme.
public acknowledgement of the partial success in implementing India’s marquee[maa'kee(superior,उत्कृष्ट)] development cooperation programmes — concessional lines of credit (LoCs), grants, and capacity building through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme as well as the Pan Africa E-Network —and the need to improve the current processes.
Modi announced enhanced allocations for the programme — $10 billion under concessional LOCs (double the $5 billion announced at the 2011 summit), $600 million of grants, and 50,000 scholarships in India.
Both India and recipient African countries are responsible for the low disbursal rate. In India, a multi-tiered and multi-agency framework for sanctioning and disbursing these loans creates delays. Additionally, a non-transparent process causes distortions.
Exim Bank, which finally disburses the loans, has complained to the Prime Minister’s Office about malpractices[mal'prak-tis(wrongdoing,दुष्टाचारण)]. On the African side, capacity gaps in drawing up detailed project reports, essential for the Indian side to conduct a proper appraisal, cause delays.
The other change was the absence of an announcement of trade targets. This was probably necessitated because India-Africa two-way trade has fallen short of the $90 billion 2015 target.
According to government data, two-way trade touched $72 billion during 2014-15, which is a vast improvement over the $4.5 billion of 1996-97. But interlocutors[,in-tu'lók-yu-tu(mediator,वार्तालापि)] still need to address some persistent[pu'sis-tunt(continuous,लगातार)] gaps.
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