PM to visit 4 African nations next month

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit four African nations—-Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya—- from July 7 to 11.

The PM’s visit follows the recent visits to Africa by President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid Ansari. The government is taking the initiative to closely engage with the African continent and these high-level visits follow that logic.

High on the agenda is expanding energy ties, maritime security and enhanced co-operation in intelligence sharing with Africa. India’s image and its relations with the African nations have suffered a little, of late, because of the alleged racial attacks on people of the African community living here.

The PM’s schedule will largely be restricted to one day in Mozambique while his visit to South Africa is likely to be more symbolic in nature. In Mozambique, the focus will be on developing energy ties between the two countries while in South Africa, the PM will address the members of the Indian diaspora.

South Africa, interestingly, was also one of the few countries that had reservations on India’s application to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at the just-concluded plenary session in Seoul.

Last year in October, India had hosted the India-Africa Summit which saw a participation of 41 of the 54 leaders of the African Union. However, the fact remains that India is today competing with an aggressive China in the continent. While China has invested heavily in the African nations, especially in infrastructure, India has not been able to build up on its traditional ‘historical’ ties with the continent.

India’s bilateral trade with Africa stands around $70 billion, way behind the figures of China’s trade with Africa which has now exceeded $200 billion.