History and geography determines the relationship between India and East Africa and India and South Africa. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya were timely and the results encouraging for all sides. The political content was clearly visible, especially in South Africa, where Mahatma Gandhi first cut his political teeth and gave notice of the remarkable leader he was to be for South Africa as well as for India.
The watchword on all sides was renewal: on how to make their separate and collective relationships fit for 21st century purpose. Reflexive anti-colonialism, a thing of the past, was no longer a crucifix of salvation. That being so, the principal talking points involved trade and investment and greater all round economic cooperation, more so in increased scientific and technical traffic and educational exchanges, plus security interaction in the face of global terrorism, from whose depredations Kenya, in particular, has suffered grievous losses of life and property in recent years. The time was ripe for serious stocktaking. Immense transformational changes are changing the face of India, which today is a significant economic power with a rapidly expanding industrial base and special strengths in the services sector, most notably in Information Technology. Indian advances in pharmaceuticals are already well known; India sourced generic drugs are available at affordable prices domestically, while also carving a niche in advanced markets in Europe and North America.
African countries have special concerns in this area. Buying drugs from Western multinational companies has been, and is hugely expensive experience for the ordinary citizen across the continent. Sourcing these from India makes them affordable and truly life-saving. During Modi’s presence in South Africa, Mumbai-based pharmaceutical major Cipla is in the process of setting up a billion dollar manufacturing unit in Durban designed to provide generic drugs as well as those for cancer and HIV and other serious diseases [See page 12].
President Uhuru Kenyatta expressed justifiable concern that Western multinational companies would pressure into raising the prices of generic drugs; he was assured by his guest that he need have no fears on that score, that Indian products would be available at the same affordable rates that they are now. In South Africa Modi asked President Jacob Zuma to invest in India’s defence industry, since his country had sophisticated technologies and products to offer.
Finally, the great bridge between the host countries and India was the large Indian diaspora, long settled in the region as a whole, whose presence in commerce is both visible and profitable, who view their place of residence over many generations as their motherland to whom they owe their primary loyalty. A vast public meeting in Nairobi of the Indian population heard Modi and President Kenyatta drive this point home in their respective speeches. To all his hosts, Prime Minister Modi made generous lines of credit available for whatever they needed to buy in India or elsewhere in the best interests of their respective countries.
Prime Minister Modi's calculated four-nation visit to the African continent came soon after the successful India Forum Summit hosted by New Delhi last October. Scaling Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, Modi's reaching out to the countries gave a whole new dimension to India's stand with the continent in terms of food, energy security, defence, and maritime cooperation.
His first prime ministerial visits to Mozambique and Tanzania saw agreements signed for import of pulses, a move that benefited both, India's food security and African farmers. India's Ambassador to South Africa and Kenya, Rajiv Bhatia said, "The long-term agreement with Mozambique on import of pulses is an excellent win-win situation. The people of Mozambique don't consume dal that much, so in India, they have found a readymade market."
Modi and Tanzanian President John Magufuli agreed to deepen their partnership in agriculture and food security. The announcement was seen as a change from the previous model. "As against earlier when farmers from Punjab and Andhra Pradesh used to go to African countries, India now gives the opportunity and security to African farmers by offering minimum support price to sell to India," said Malancha Chakrabarty, associate fellow in the Observer Research Foundation. "At the same time we are ensuring that the quality suits Indian preferences."
While every foreign trip made by the Indian leader is of undisputed importance, his visit to Africa remained long anticipated and could not have come sooner. In his two years in office, Modi has visited a whopping 47 countries in five continents, all except Africa, until now. African leaders are if anything, happy with Modi following India's "look east policies" and prioritising their relations. They however, aren't naïve enough to miss out on India's underlying strategy to claim strategic power as compared to China.
Energy security is yet another area, with Mozambique being the third biggest supplier of natural gas after Qatar and Australia and Tanzania emerging as gas giants. African countries have often opted for friendly relations with India with no looming security issues in terms of gas imports, like the case with the TAPI gas pipeline. Also pinning maritime cooperation, NaMo made it a common theme with all the four countries he visited. Strategic affairs expert C Uday Bhaskar, Director, Society for Policy Studies, said, "I am very gratified that India is extending maritime cooperation with Africa. This is a logical extension of Modi's island tours on Security And Growth for All in the Region. We should see this as a logical security enabler in the region."
Andy Chande
A prominent Tanzanian businessman, philanthropist, and freemason, Andy Chande is the chairman of the Board of Governors of Shaaban Robert Secondary School, and President of the Dar es Salaam Secondary Education Society. He is a recipient of the Hind Ratna Award, and has also received the 'Service Above Self' award from Rotary International in recognition of his years of work for the organisation. Born Jayantilal Keshavji Chande, was appointed as chairman of the Rotary Foundation of the UK. He was also made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, in 2003.
