By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : The upcoming G-20 summit in Toronto will see a unique initiative of India, the United States and the European Union working together with Africa to help it move forward on the development path.
The new initiative has resulted from three-way discussions here between US and Indian officials and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), the industry body’s president Rajan Bharti Mittal said at a media interaction Thursday.
“As a result of this pioneering effort, the India-US synergy in Africa has resulted in the trajectory moving forward with the G-20 taking up the same issue,” he said.
Former FICCI president Y.K. Modi will join Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma at the June 26-27 event in Toronto as his nominee, Mittal said. “The idea really is to take it from discussion stage to concrete stage.”
The US and India can have joint programmes in areas like health care and development, he said.
Officials from the US commerce and state departments and the US Corporate Council on Africa as also the Indian ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, Mittal noted had participated in a discussion on “Partnering with Africa: US and India’s Perspectives” organised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the FICCI here Wednesday.
Shankar had suggested that India and US can work together to help Africa move forward with India providing the relevant expertise.
India’s experiences as a developing country can help Africa on its own path of development, she said noting many policy solutions developed by India can have relevance for the continent of one billion people with immense economic potential.
“That’s the kind of thing, in which we can make a beginning in working together,” she said. “Many of the solutions that we have developed or the policies that we have applied in India have relevance for Africa.”
Noting that India has “historical ties” with Africa, Shankar said India brings to the table its own experience as a developing country that has sought to pursue the path of development in a democratic framework and within a highly pluralistic society and polity.
The FICCI initiative on Africa suggests the technologies, frameworks and approaches for growth and development that have evolved in India are in line with the needs of the developing countries and Africa stands to gain considerable through greater cooperation in India.
As there are several commonalities in terms of contribution which India and US can make for development in Africa in identified sectors, Africa stands to gain at large by combining the competitive advantages of both the nations, it says.
Suggested areas for Indo-US collaboration in Africa include developing a comprehensive and coordinated strategy for combating HIV/Aids and other infectious diseases and coordinating to achieve best practices in higher education as also cooperating in development of newer models such as e-schools etc.
Also suggested are synchronising efforts to bring about a green revolution in Africa, similar to the one brought about in India and strengthening cooperation for development of non-conventional sources of energy such as solar and wind energy.
It is now up to the policymakers to evaluate various models for collaboration – government to government, government to private and private to private – and put in place the suitable framework for development of Africa through bilateral cooperation between US and India, FICCI suggested.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected] )