Previous India-Africa summits-the first in New Delhi in 2008 and the second in Addis Ababa in 2011-were smaller events, with India and representatives of select African countries participating.
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Madagaskar Foreign Minister Beatrice Jeanine Atallah, Ethiopian Ambassador Gennet Zewide and diplomatic represantatives from the 54 African countries took part in the function.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday inaugurated the India Africa Friendship Rose garden on Sunday ahead of the third India Africa Summit which begins tomorrow.
India has seen such a large diplomatic jamboree, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1983 hosted Commonwealth and Non-Aligned Movement summit. “I am convinced that during this summit and following the summit, we are going to have very important decisions which will give both India and Africa a new sense of self confidence, our relations are going to become closer and deeper”. “Although Indians and Africans comprise almost 2.5 billion people, our nations continue to be excluded from appropriate representation in the institutions of global governance”.
Declining to get into specifics of who all will be attending, Akbaruddin said that rather than giving a listing of who all are attending, he would rather give a flavour of those attending, adding that a few leaders like the King of Morocco and Swaziland are already here. Additionally, police and the foreign registration office are keeping a tab on the African nationals who have arrived in New Delhi over the past week, reported the Times of India.
Addressing the Trade Ministers here, Nirmala Sitharaman said that India had been one of the first countries to provide a services package for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and had also waived visa fees for businessmen from LDC countries travelling to India.
The four-day India-Africa Summit, which is expected to attract more than 1 000 delegates and will end on Thursday. This includes visits to Indian monuments as well as a fashion show showcasing the handlooms of Varanasi-the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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The third edition of the India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) will actually ponder on means of boosting Indian-African cooperation in matters of security and fight against terrorism, a threat endangering the whole world.
