Ministry of External Affairs

Excerpts from Interview of Minister of State, Mr. Anand Sharma on the Africa Summit

18 February 2008

Capital Daily: What is the overall direction of Indian foreign policy and also in regards to Africa?

H. E. Mr. Anand Sharma: India has been for decades a positive friend and partner of Africa. We are committed to share our development experiences, such as the Green Revolution which ensured food security for our people, in technology and with our resources.

There is a deepening engagement with Ethiopia, a country with whom we have always had a very good political relationship but also a civilizational link which pre-dates India's independence in the present context.

There are also the institutional linkages of universities, of super-specialty hospitals and many other aspects. The priority areas of our engagements are in agriculture, food security, generic medicines - where India has contributed in a big way in terms of breaking the suffocating stranglehold of multinationals on life saving medicines and ensuring that they are accessible at affordable prices. I am referring to ARVs, anti-tuberculosis and anti-malaria drugs, among others. To provide an example, ARVs used to cost US$12,000 per annum per patient before Indian generics entered the market and brought this down to below US$500. This in itself is a very strong statement of commitment and cooperation. In Ethiopia, numerous Indian companies are producing medicines and ARVs as well as drugs for tuberculosis and malaria, through joint ventures - Cadilla Ethiopia is one such joint venture.

Another area is ICT, where India's commitment has been in capacity building and human resource development. We have a dedicated program called Itech which is a technical and economic program through which in the last few decades tens of thousands of African students have come for education in our institutions for professional courses through Indian scholarship schemes. India has trained about 40,000 African students so far. The government has spent more than $1.5 billion to expand this program further.

Another example of Indian and African partnership cooperation is the pan African e-network project, a dedicated satellite feature that was announced by our former President when he was visiting Africa in 2004. It has since been operational here in Ethiopia. There will also be a regional hub in Senegal. In Ethiopia it has already linked five major universities with twelve universities in India. With regards to the super specialty hospitals - five here in Africa (in different countries) link with the twelve super specialty hospitals in India.In addition there will be one hospital plus one educational centre or institution in each of the 53 countries in Africa. This has been a revolutionary step to help Africa bridge the digital divide and also for tele-medicine and tele-education.

With regards to the private sector, like the public sector, India is a partner in terms of capacity building, utilization of local resources, generating capital and employment as well as value addition, as we are fully committed to the development and industrialization of Africa.

Capital daily: You are now organizing the India-Africa Partnership Summit in April this year. What are the main objectives of this historic summit?
H.E. Mr. Anand Sharma:The AU and India have been working on the format of the summit. I have extended official invitations from my PM to the Chairperson of AU Commission, Prof. A. O. Konare, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi, and the President of the AU - the President of Ghana, John A. Kufuor. And I'll be conferring with Heads of State and Ministers, regional economic communities, the five founding members of NEPAD...

The goal of India is partnership in multi-sectoral priority areas in which we will engage. These include agriculture, food security, health, infrastructure development, science and technology, generics, capacity building and industrialization. We are already covering these areas, but we will examine how we can give further impetus and crystallize this engagement so that we work together and help Africa to get a larger share in world trade, as the world economic architecture is changing, and to have more voice in determining international regimes - i.e in negotiations with WTO and multilateral organizations so that issue vital to developing countries are articulated effectively in organizations of more representative characters.

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