The installation was notable not only for its speed, but also because it marked the beginning of Africa’s largest information and communications technology-based development project to be funded entirely by a developing country – India.
The hub will soon connect 12 specialized hospitals and seven universities in India with five hospitals and five universities in Africa to provide free telemedicine and tele-education services from India to Africa. The goal is to eventually extend these free services to all 54 African countries – 30 have signed the agreement so far – linking them with other Indian data centers by a satellite and fiber optic network. India’s Ministry of External Affairs will fund the project at a cost of around US$135 million.
What prompted TCIL to set up the hub in such a hurry? Although proposed in 2004 by former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Pan-African e-Network faced the usual red tape and delays for close to four years until the final green light came from the Ministry of External Affairs in March, 2008. Within three months of receiving the “mobilization advance,” TCIL, which is executing the project, managed to kick-start the first phase.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs official in charge of the Africa Forum, one of the prime objectives of fast-forwarding PAeN is to improve diplomatic and trade relationships with African countries. “We expect that in the long run this project will not only improve the cultural relationship between India and all African countries, but it will also help the growth of trade and commerce and industry between India and Africa,” said the official.
He added, “This project is important for India because it will also help India to catch up with China, which is wooing Africa with lots of aid, projects, and other support in return for resources.”
And indeed, the scramble in India to woo the resource-rich continent seems to have begun in earnest, from the government’s first-ever Africa Summit that announced benefits for Africa, to the powerful Indian industry lobbies formulating Africa-centric programs.
At the India-Africa Forum Summit hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April this year, which was attended by heads of states of 14 African nations chosen by the 54-nation African Union, the prime minister announced a duty-free tariff preference scheme for least developed countries, which will unilaterally provide preferential market access for exports from all 50 least developed countries, 34 of which are in Africa.
In his speech at the summit Singh said India sought a partnership with Africa not only for “development” of the African countries but also for a “partnership for energy security,” which is a “vital prerequisite for (India’s) sustained growth.”
The “Strengthening Economic Engagement between India and Africa” program crafted by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries recently tried to go a step further. The program aims to double the volume of India’s bilateral trade with Africa to US$50 billion by 2012 by urging the Indian government to provide additional export incentives for “India Inc.” and discussing improvement in the business environment of African countries.
“Given the long-standing historical and cultural ties, there is a renewed economic engagement between India and Africa that is special in many respects,” says Syamal Gupta, director of Tata Sons Ltd. and chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Africa Committee, a New Delhi-based industry lobby.
“Both India and Africa have discovered a new economic synergy between each other and that has given rise to the need for a more energetic marketing of new business opportunities emerging in the African continent,” he says. “Even if Indian companies may have been a little late in tapping the African market because we have been looking to the West, more and more Indian companies now are going to Africa to find new opportunities.”
Admittedly, although Africa has been a friendly continent for generations of Indians, the country’s economic relations with Africa were largely restricted to the Indians settling in Africa as traders, businessmen and laborers, initially, and later as doctors, teachers, engineers and professionals. According to Gupta, only a handful of Indian industry houses like the Tata Group and the Kirloskar Group “have been around in Africa for many years.”
But lately, quite a few Indian companies have started foraying into Africa. These include Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh, the overseas exploration subsidiary of India’s largest oil company, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, as well as other major corporate houses including the Vedanta Group, the Mittal Group, Reliance Industries, Essar Ltd., Ranbaxy Ltd., and Dr. Reddy’s Labs.
“Africa provides many opportunities for India Inc.,” says Shipra Tripathi, director and head for Africa at the CII, “and Indian companies are investing in areas where there is long-term demand and in areas where they can grow.”
According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, although both India and Africa share a common perspective on several international issues and have been working together on both economic and social issues for years, Indian companies in particular were more focused on the West until recently.
“However, the changes taking place in the global economic landscape have led to a shift in focus for the Indian companies, and they are now looking away from the West toward other regions, and very intently at Africa,” says Shiela Sudhakaran, head of the Africa division at FICCI.
The most important of these changes is obviously the China factor. Like China, India’s scorching economy – which is growing at about 8 percent a year and is considered one of the fastest in the world – is also hungry for everything from minerals to oil, and Africa could play a crucial supplier’s role for the country.
But while China, with its ambitious Africa strategy, has been showering Africa with almost everything – from building roads to providing free food, clothes and medicine – in return for lucrative partnerships with its oil and mineral companies, India has been lagging far behind. For instance, China has managed to secure a supply of as much as 37 million tons per year of oil and gas requirements from Africa, compared to India’s 18 million tons.
“It is widely perceived in India today that economic cooperation with Africa, which can be undertaken at both bilateral and multilateral levels, opens a gateway to huge opportunities for both sides,” says Sudhakaran.
Nevertheless, according to Syamal Gupta, China and India are not competitors in Africa. “India shares a different cultural and historical linkage with the continent that is well understood,” he says. “Our edge over China will be in impartment of appropriate training (toward capacity-building) and language on a long-term perspective. This is what can eventually sustain relationships in the long run.”
Some also believe that even as India’s response may have been slow at times – since India is less aggressive and often lacks the determination of China – it was always committed to sharing knowledge and skills to support creation and development in Africa.
Tripathi of CII says India has a different focus as well. While China’s focus is mainly the infrastructure of Africa, India is focusing on development of the continent’s human capital in agriculture, education and training, and health care.
Moreover, “No matter what, it is ultimately Africa that decides who its partners will be – it can be India and China and any other,” says Gupta.
India seems to be making headway. Speaking to a local newspaper on the different approaches to Africa of India and China, Kandeh Yumkella, director-general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and an erstwhile industry minister of Sierra Leone, recently said, “For Africa, the partnerships with India and China are great. (But) one big advantage that India has is that its relationship with Africa goes back many centuries. So I feel that India can capitalize on that, look at investment strategies that will also go into agro-industries, even as it pursues minerals.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Indrajit Basu
Quelle/Source: UPI Asia Online, 22.08.2008
