Session on India Africa Development Partnership 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm: 25 April, 2013 WWF Auditorium, 172 B, Lodhi Estate,

, New Delhi

Indias partnership with Africa is a unique milestone in the history of SouthSouth cooperation, placing development cooperation within a much broader context of overall relations between the two entities. Thepartnershiplooksatdevelopmentnotmerelyineconomictermsbutasaprocessthatissustainable only if located within a larger political, social and intellectual environment. IndiaAfrica development cooperationisconceivedintermsofauniquethreetieredpattern,encompassingbilateral,regionaland panAfrican cooperation. To know more about this unique model of cooperation, Aspen Institute India organized a session on India Africa Development Partnership with Ambassador Shyam Saran, Chairman,NationalSecurityAdvisoryBoard&formerForeignSecretaryofIndia. AmbassadorSaranstatedthatIndiahasagoodstorytotellwithregardtoitsdevelopmentalinitiatives in the African region. India has used its limited resources to build a sound network of cooperation globally. India has focussed on Africa with the result that Africa stands out as its largest development partner. Ambassador Saran also emphasized that despite the general perception that India considers Africaasperipheralinitspoliticalagenda,giventhe thinpolitical engagementbetweenthe tworegions,

the small size of Indian missions in in African countries, low frequency of political visits by top Indian leaderstothecontinent,therehasbeenasteadygrowthinIndiasdevelopmentpartnershipwithAfrica sincethedaysofIndiasindependencein1947. Ambassador Saran highlighted certain aspects of Indias development cooperation efforts in Africa. The first aspect of Indian development cooperation is that of capacity building. This involves initiatives like giving scholarship opportunities to African scholars in Indian Universities, providing technical training, developing human resources (Example: the ITEC Programmes focus on HRD Development in Africa), training of African service personnel in premier Indian defense institutions among other things. The second aspect of development cooperation is that of institution building linked to capacity building like that of small entrepreneur development programmes (carpentry, furniture making, wood works, plastic moulds etc.), setting up of IT sector initiatives (like the Centre of IT Excellence at Ghana) etc. The third aspect of such cooperation efforts has been building up of a strong Pan African basis of cooperation. This can be seen with the establishment of the Pan African E Network that lends digital and electronic fibre optic connectivity to the whole of Africa. Such connectivity has acted like a game changer in the African region, making it possible for African hospitals, schools and colleges to be connected to Indian counterparts and thereby facilitate a certain kind of knowledge and expertise sharing. All this is further expandedbytheincreasingdemandinAfricaforsuchIndianprogrammesandskills. The underlying philosophy of Indian development cooperation efforts in Africa was laid down by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that India has a responsibility to share its resources and skills with other developing countries and in doing so, India needs to avoid the donor receipient kind of mindset. India must make efforts for putting in place a mutually beneficial development partnership. It is in keeping with this philosophy that the Indian approach has been to make the programs that are being determined by African partners themselves. India has to align its cooperation efforts from the perspective of Africa and not impose its own understanding of the development cooperation discourse. The creation of Development Partnership Administration (DPA) within MEA aims at ensuring that the entireprocessofIndiascommitmenttoAfricaishastened. AccordingtoAmbassadorSaranIndiasexperienceindevelopmentcooperationwithAfricaisevolving forthebest.Whileonparameterslikeaccountabilityandevaluation,Indiacanlearnfromthe experiencesofOECDcountries,Indiahasabetteroutlookintermsofprioritizingtheneedsand aspirationsofthetargetcountriesandincomingupwithpeoplecentricprograms. Responding to a question from the chair, Mr. T.N. Ninan, Chairman, Business Standard Limited & Trustee, Aspen Institute India, on the strategic constraints faced by India from strong Chinese presence in Africa, Ambassador Saran stated that India must not compare with China and instead should focus onitsownstrengths.Today,IndiahasbeenabletocarveanicheforitselfinAfricaandthisisthereason behind Indias positive and benign image in the continent. There is a sense of genuine commitment and goodwill being generated by India and which is also being well received by African partners. While India has economic interests in Africa, yet, Indian trade and investment is not extraction oriented and speculative. There is a definite value to India Africa relations that has nothing to do with India China rivalryandthisvaluedpartnershipmustnotbeviewedfromtheprismofIndiasrelationshipwithChina. Toknowmoreaboutthissession,ClickontheVideoLinkBelow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXvEvhBtCnc