Mrs. Swaraj had this to say about UNSC and she sought greater cooperation to counter terrorism and urged for the adoption of comprehensive convention against worldwide terrorism.
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“How can we expect legitimacy from structure that excludes African continent and a country representing 1/6th of humanity”, she said.
Addressing Foreign Minister’s meeting ahead of the India-Africa Forum Summit, IAFS, Sushma Swaraj said “India and Africa are engaged in a vital struggle to eliminate poverty and uplift our people”.
“The menace of non-state actors and cross-border terrorism has acquired a brand new dimension”.
She asserted that India and Africa can no longer be excluded from their rightful place of the permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
Swaraj assured the foreign ministers of the nine countries India’s unwavering commitment in helping them in various sectors including capacity building.
“There can no longer be pockets of prosperity in vast areas of underdevelopment and insecurity”, Swaraj said.
For the third India-Africa forum summit, Swaraj reiterated that India has learnt from its experience.
“Last bilateral of the day with one of India’s oldest friends in Africa, with Foreign Minister of Ghana, Hanna S. Tetteh”, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a tweet.
She said India was among the first emerging economies to unilaterally put in place a duty-free market access scheme for least developed countries (LDCs). “It also leads to diversification of economic activity and most importantly generates employment and skill development for local populations”, she said, in a possibly subtle pointer to the difference in investments by China in raw materials and resources that has been described by a few critics as exploitative and not creating skills or generating jobs. “We recognise the value of training of doctors and healthcare personnel, including through tele-medicine utilising modern technology, the use of affordable generic medicines, promoting the use of traditional medicines and their regulatory procedures”, she asserted. We are very happy to note the intensification of India-Africa economic engagement in recent years. “This is another area where we can collaborate further”, she added.
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India has entered partnerships worth $ 9 Billion in 140 projects across 40 countries in Africa.
