Background: The African Union is an international organisation
consisting of 53 African member states ( excluding Morocco but including
Saharwi ADR). It was founded in Durban on July 10, 2002, replacing the
Organization of African Unity( OAU).
In 1999, the Heads of State / Government of the OAU issued the Sirte
Declaration calling for establishing an African Union to accelerate the process
of integration in the African Continent. The Lome Summit of 2000 adopted the
Constitutive Act and the Lusaka Summit of 2001 drew the roadmap for
implementation of the African Union. Its headquarters is located in Addis
Ababa. The birth of the AU is a legacy of the Pan-African movement towards
creating institutions to achieve the objectives of peace, political stability,
democracy, economic integration and good governance. The Regional
Economic Communities like Economic Community of Central African States
(ECCAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community
(EAC), Arab Maghreb Union (AMU/UMA), The Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development
(IGAD) and Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) are contributing
to the progress of integration.
Summits:
Since the inception of the African Union, India has been regularly
participating in its various Summits. India participated in the AU Summit in
Durban in July 2002 and in Maputo (Mozambique) in July 2003. At the Durban
and Maputo Summits, Shri Shashank, Secretary (EAA) carried a message
from Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, which was circulated to all the African
Heads of State/Government as a document. The Indian delegation to the 3rd
AU Summit in Addis Ababa in July 2004 was led by Sh. Rajiv Sikri, Special
Secretary (ER), and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent a message of
warm felicitations for the Summit. At the Sirte Summit (Libya) in 2005, the
Indian delegation was led by Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for
External Affairs. The Indian delegation for the Khartoum AU Summit in
January 2006 was a small one, and the Indian delegation for the Summit held
in June-July 2006 in Banjul (Gambia) was a composite one led by Secretary
(West). For the AU Summit in January 2007 in Addis Ababa, the Indian
delegation from the MEA was led by Sh. Nalin Surie, Secretary (West) and
included JS (WA). 9th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly (AU
Summit) was held in Accra from 1 - 3 July 2007. The Indian delegation from
the MEA was led by Shri. K.C. Singh, AS (IO) and included JS (WA).
The 10th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union took
place in Addis Ababa Jan 31-Feb 02, 2008 whose theme was “Industrial
Development of Africa”. The Indian Delegation was led by Shri Anand
Sharma, MoS for External Affairs. In his Address to the Executive Council on
January 29, 2008 he announced the India Africa Forum Summit to be held at
New Delhi from April 4-9, 2008. He also met the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, a
number of HOS /HOG/EAMs and the Chairperson of African Union and
personally handed over the invitation of IAFS 2008 to them. MoS (AS) again
led the Indian Delegation to the 11th Ordinary Session of the Assembly at
Sharma-el Sheik, Egypt from June 26-29,2008 whose theme was “Meeting
the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation”. The 12th and
13th Ordinary Summits of AU were held at Addis Ababa in February 2009 and
at Sirte, Libya in July, 2009 respectively and were attended by Indian
Permanent representatives to AU.
Dr. Shashi Tharoor, MoS for External Affairs, participated in the 14th
Ordinary Summit of The African Union from 25th January to 2nd February,
2010, whose theme was “Information and Communication Technologies in
Africa: Prospects and Challenges for Development”. He attended the opening
ceremony of the Executive Council, called on the Ethiopian Prime Minister,
Foreign Ministers of a number of African states and Mr. Jean Ping,
Chairperson of AUC and discussed a number of matters of mutual interest.
During the visit, he also inaugurated the Tele-medicine facility at the African
Union Clinic which received wide publicity.
Extraordinary Summits:
India sent its Special Envoy, Shri Salman Kurshid for the Extraordinary
Summit held in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) in September 2004. Mrs.
Shashi Tripathi, Secretary (West) led the Indian delegation for the AU
Extraordinary Summit held in Addis Ababa in August 2005, and also for the
Extraordinary Summit held in October 2005 in Addis Ababa. These were on
UN reforms.
India-Africa Forum Summit
The first ever India-Africa Forum Summit, attended by the countries
representing AU and the Regional Economic Communities of Africa, was held
in New Delhi on 8-9 April, 2008. Leaders of 14 African counties and the
African Union Commission participated. It represented a turning point in the
India- AU relations.
The Summit adopted the Delhi Declaration and the Africa-India
Framework for Cooperation, which constitute the blueprint for cooperation
between India and Africa in the 21st century. Under this new framework,
relationships will be further developed in the areas of trade, economy,
agriculture, education, science, technology, water management and human
resource development. Constructive discussions were also held on the issues of food and energy security, UN reforms and climate change. It was also
agreed that the next IAFS would be held in Africa in 2011.
India announced unilateral duty free and preferential market access for
exports from all Least Developed Countries, 34 of which are in Africa. The
scheme will cover 94% of India’s total tariff lines. Specifically, it will provide
preferential market access on tariff lines that comprise 92.55 of global exports
of all Least Developed Countries. Products of immediate interest to Africa
include cotton, cocoa, aluminium ores, copper ores, cashew nuts, cane sugar,
ready-made garments, fish fillets and non-industrial diamonds. India would
double its quantum of credit to USD 5.4 billion from the present USD 2.15
billion over next five years.
In order to enhance opportunities for African Students to pursue higher
studies in India, the Government of India has doubled long-term scholarships
for undergraduates, postgraduates and higher courses and increased the
number of training slots under our technical assistance programmes from
1100 to 1600 every year. The Prime Minster of India proposed that India and
Africa work towards the establishment of an India-Africa Volunteer Corps
which would be devoted to development work. The Volunteer Corps can, on a
pilot basis, identify projects in the areas of public health, informal education
and women’s empowerment and as we gather more experience, the scope of
activities can be progressively widened. Prime Minister also proposed to
enhance Indian aid to Africa by expanded concessional lines of credit and
undertaking projects against grants in excess of USD 500 million over the
next five to six years, focusing on human resource development and capacity
building. India will strengthen local capabilities by creating regional and pan –
African institutions of higher education, especially in pure sciences,
information technology and vocational education. India will also make
investments in research and development in renewable forms of energy and
agricultural development, through these institutions.
Several outreach events took place before or concurrent with the
Summit. These were(i) the first ever India-Africa Editors Conference;(ii) joint
performances by Indian and African cultural troupes; (iii) a seminar of
intellectuals from Africa and India on India-Africa Partnership on the 21st
century(vi) a programme for youth and women from Africa; and (v) a business
conclave.
Follow-up of India-Africa Forum Summit: Following visit of a high
level delegation from AUC to New Delhi, the Joint Action Plan, with a view to
implementing the decisions of the IAFS 2008, has been finalized & launched
on 10th March 2010 between the Government of India and the African Union.
The decision as to the location of the four Institutions viz, the India-Africa
Institute of Foreign Trade, India-Africa Institute of Information Technology,
India Africa Institute of Education Planning and Administration and India Africa
Diamond Institute besides 10 India-Africa vocational Training Centres and
construction of 5 prototype low cost houses is presenting being finalized by
the AUC. Responses have already started coming from the African Union in this regard. The award of first 75 of the total 300 PhD and maters
scholarships in the field of Agriculture is already underway and the scholars
selected from various African countries have already started reaching India to
pursue Ph.D and M.Sc courses. Under CV Raman International Fellowship
for African Researchers, applications have been invited from African
researchers. These will be short-term, fully-funded scholarships. FICCI has
been designated as the coordinating partner for this fellowship programme.
Pan-African e-Network Project:
The proposal for establishing the Pan-African e-Network Project was
made by the then President of India at the Pan-African Parliament in 2004
and is being implemented in conjunction with the African Union. The offer was
examined by the African Union in 2005 and the Advisory Committee to the
Chairperson concluded that the project would suit the requirements of Africa
in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals.
The Project was inaugurated by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the then
Minister of External Affairs on February 26, 2009 from the TCIL Centre in New
Delhi. The process to implement the project was undertaken by establishing
a Steering Committee, which is co-chaired by the Commissioner for
Infrastructure and the India’s Permanent Representative to the African Union
(the Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia). An agreement between GOI and the
African Union was signed in New Delhi in October 2005 and seven meetings
of the Steering Committee have so far been held. The meetings are cochaired
by the Ambassador of India, who is also the Permanent
Representative of India to AU, with the Commissioner for Infrastructure
Development of AU. JS (WA) and representatives from IGNOU, TCIL, Amity
University also participate in the deliberations.
The project would use Indian expertise in information technology to
bring benefits of healthcare and higher education in Africa, including in remote
areas. The network will be connected by a satellite/fibre optical network for
tele-medicine, tele-education and VVIP connectivity. The current project cost
is about USD 116 million, which will be given as a grant by the Government of
India. It consists of 5 regional universities, 5 regional super specialty
hospitals, 53 learning centres, 53 remote hospitals and 53 VVIP nodes in all
countries of Africa. These will be linked to 7 universities and 12 super
specialty hospitals in India. Each country is required to sign an agreement
with the Indian implementing agency, Telecommunication Consultants India
Limited (TCIL).
On Indian side 5 Universities and all 12 Super Speciality Hospitals are
integrated with the project. On African side, 47 countries have singed
agreements with TCIL. So far 3 out of 5 regional universities have been
integrated with the e-Network which are Kwame/Nkrumah University of S&T
and University of Ghana, Mekerere University of Uganda and Younde University of Cameroon. The Ibadan Hospital of Nigeria has so far integrated
with the project.
Ethiopia was the first beneficiary of the project under a pilot project,
which was completed in 2007 at a cost of US$2.13 million. India has also
committed to provide tele-medicine, tele-education and VIP connectivity
facility at AU Commission in Addis Ababa. A tele-medicine Centre was
inaugurated by the then MOS (ST), Dr Shashi Tharoor on February 28, 2010
during his visit to Addis Ababa in connection with the 14th Summit of AU.
Pan-African E-network project was inaugurated in February 2009 by
the then External Affairs Minister of India. Another inauguration took place on
August 16, 2010 when Shri S.M. Krishna, External Affairs Minister of India
interacted live with 12 Ministers of African countries. 23 countries have been
covered by this network where the project has been fully implemented.
India is a member of the newly established AU Partners Group
(AUPG), which meets periodically in Addis Ababa.
Visit of Chairperson of AU Commission:
H.E. Dr. Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairperson of AU Commission paid an
official visit to India from 19-21 December 2006. He called on the President,
had meetings with the EAM, MOS (AS), and delivered a lecture at the Indian
Council of World Affairs (ICWA). He also visited TCIL and IGNOU and
observed the working of the Pan African tele-education project. On return, he
wrote to HOS/HOGs of all Member states on the importance of the project.
ITEC:
India has allocated 10 slots in the year 2008-2009 under the Indian
Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme to the AU
Commission personnel and all the slots have been fully utilized for the year
2007-09 and 2009-10.
Defence:
Among the various aspects of engagement with the African Union
Commission, their requirement for training and capacity building of their
nascent standby brigade, which were to be the building blocks of their
peacekeeping activities, are being discussed.
At the request of the AU commission, initial discussions on their
structures to be developed and capabilities to be enhanced were undertaken
between an Indian military delegation and the peace and security division of
the AU Commission in August 2006. The aim was to see how the Indian
experience can be shared with the AU’s efforts to enhance its own capacities
for peacekeeping operations in Africa.
Commemoration of 1st International Day of Non-Violence:
A joint commemoration of the 1st International Day of Non-Violence was held
on 2nd October 2007 at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa which
comprised of screening of a short film on Mahatma Gandhi and Millennium
Lecture on Mahatma Gandhi by His Holiness Abune Paulos, Patriarch of
Ethiopia, Archbishop of Axum and President of World Council of Churches.
The then Deputy Chairperson of African Union H.E. Mr. Patrick Mazimhaka
also addressed the gathering. The Ambassador also presented a photograph
of the bust of Mahatma Gandhi to be installed at the African Union
commission at that occasion.
Commissioner level visits:
Commissioner for Political Affairs and Commissioner for Infrastructure &
Energy participated in the Federalism Conference and India- Africa
Hydrocarbon Conference respectively in Nov. 2007. Commissioner for Rural
Economy & Agriculture participated in Avian Influenza Conference in Dec.
2007. Commissioner for Economic Affairs of AU participated in the
Partnership Summit 2008 in March 2008 and spoke on “ Ensuring Growth,
Making it Inclusive: The West Asian and African Views.” Deputy
Chairperson of AUC, Commissioner for Trade and Industry and
Commissioner for Infrastructure & Energy participated in the India Africa
Forum Summit in April 2008. Commissioner for Infrastructure attended Exim
Bank Conclave in Delhi in March, 2009.
Following the terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26th November, 2008 , the
Chairperson of the African Union Commission and S&T Commissioner sent
letters expressing their heartfelt condolences on the loss of life and property
and expressed their hope that given the resilience of the country, the scourge
of violence will be defeated with grit and determination. Deputy Chairperson of
AUC also expressed his condolences in person.
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