China suggests collaboration with India in Africa

Smita Sharma 

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 24

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday arrived in Uganda after his first official visit to Rwanda as part of his three-nation tour en route South Africa for BRICS summit. 

Interestingly, PM Modi's arrived in Rwanda just hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the African nation and both leaders were received by President Kagame at the airport on Monday. Asked about India and China competing for strategic dominance in Africa, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said, "We all want to help Africa speed up industrialisation under south-south cooperation."

"We hope India and China can implement consensus reached by leaders to explore new modes of cooperation like China India Plus to realise win-win for China, India and other counties and contribute to peace, stability, development of region and the world," Geng added.

PM Modi and President Xi are expected to meet along the sidelines of the BRICS summit in South Africa this week, less than three months since the informal summit meeting in Wuhan. At Wuhan, the two top leaders agreed to collaborate on joint development projects in Afghanistan focussing on capacity-building training programs of security forces. 

Indian officials though so far have denied proposals floated by Beijing of any Sino-India cooperation towards infrastructure projects in Nepal. 

On his first visit to Uganda, PM Modi will address its Parliament on Wednesday. 

Today, PM Modi held talks with President Yoweri K Museveni and both sides signed four agreements, including MoU on Defence Cooperation, visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders, Cultural Exchange Programme and Material Testing Laboratory.

Earlier on Monday, post official talks between PM Modi and President Kagame, India and Rwanda exchanged eight MoUs and documents, including a Defence Framework Agreement on Cooperation In Capacity Building, Defence Industry, Science and Technology. 

Cow diplomacy with Rwanda, a major beef exporter 

Meanwhile, the BJP government's Gau Raksha programme today found diplomatic bonding with Girinka in Rwanda in Central and East Africa. Narendra Modi -- the first ever Indian PM to visit Rwanda -- gifted 200 cows to villagers at Rweru Model Village in the Bugesera district in the Easter Province. 

Supporting the Rwandan government's Girinka Programme, the cows were handed over to villagers who do not yet own a cow, in the presence of President Paul Kagame. Appreciating the Girinka initiative, PM Modi underlined that "people in India too would be pleasantly surprised to see the cow being given such importance as a means of economic empowerment in villages, in faraway Rwanda".

Initiated by Kagame to fight high rates of childhood malnutrition and integrate livestock and crop farming into rural economy, Girinka roughly translates into 'may you have a cow'. It marks a centuries-old cultural practice in Rwanda of gifting cows as a sign of respect and gratitude. PM Modi on the occasion drew similarities between the rural lives and economies of India and Rwanda. 

Incidentally, though beef or cow meat happens to be one of the biggest export items for Rwanda. According to reports, the country recorded near 18 per cent growth in volumes, shipping out some $30 million of beef in the financial year 2016-2017. Rwanda that is currently implementing a six year dairy development project also recorded a boost in milk production and exports during the same period.