Strongly pitching for UN Security Council reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday cautioned that UNSC ran the risk of becoming irrelevant unless it adjusted to the changing world even as he called for concerted efforts to deal with growing challenge of terrorism.
Advertisement
In this regard the Prime Minister pitched for the need to have a UN Comprehensive Convention on global Terrorism, something that India has been pushing for long.
The incident, which went viral on social media, reminded many of Mugabe’s dramatic fall at the Harare global Airport in January on arrival from the African Union (AU) summit where he had assumed the continental body’s chairmanship. Of that, $100 million would go toward a new India-Africa Development Fund and $10 million to an India-Africa Health Fund. Modi ji said a sudden forceful stream in Africa’s agriculture sector can drive the continent to wealth, success and also support global food security.
Addressing the 3rd India -Africa Forum Summit, Prime Minister Modi has announced a concessional credit of $10 billion to Africa over the next five years. According to IAFS coordinator Syed Akbaruddin, the fact that the summit included representatives of all 53 African nations “is unprecedented in the annals of any summit between Africa and any other country”. “We want to light up lives of our people and power their future, but we want to do it in a way that the snow on Kilimanjaro does not disappear, the glacier that feeds the River Ganga does not retreat and our islands are not doomed”.
Africa and India were “two bright spots of hope and opportunities in the global economy”, he added. The aim is obvious: to increase India’s diplomatic influence over Africa.
But India’s economic presence in Africa is dwarfed by China, whose trade with the continent topped $200 billion previous year – more than the GDP of the 30 smallest African economies combined.
“No matter at which point of history you may like to refer to, the inescapable fact is that business and related economic activity is a major driver of India’s close and friendly ties with Africa”, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said Wednesday.
In his opening address as the summit host, Modi sought to strengthen the India-Africa partnership by announcing 50,000 scholarships in the next five years.
“We will expand and extend the Pan Africa E-Network, conceived by late President APJ Abdul Kalam, which links 48 African countries to India and to each other”.
“We will help connect Africa from Cairo to Cape Town, from Marrakesh to Mombassa, help add value to your resources in Africa and set up industrial and information technology parks”.
Advertisement
He said India and Africa would deepen their partnership on clean energy, sustainable habitats, public transport and climate resilient agriculture.
