Al Akhbar, p.16, (13/4/2008)

Egypt and the African-Indian summit

By: Ambassador Ahmad Hagag

The Indian-African summit held in New Delhi, in which representatives of 14 African countries including Egypt participated, came to a close. India had good preparations for this summit in view of its desire to promote its relations with Africa.

The Indian Minister of External Affairs visited Addis Ababa during the last summit of the African Union where he met Dr. Nazif. India chose fourteen African countries to participate in this summit. Those countries have economic weight in the continent.

Since its independence, India sought support of liberation movements in Africa. In India, there is the largest number of African embassies to be found in any country. India also offers scholarships for a large number of African students especially in the field of science.

During the past years, India's requirements of oil and African raw materials increased. Therefore, it drew up an ambitious plan for increasing its investments in oil producing countries as the majority of its oil requirements comes from those countries. It also get copper, diamond and other metals necessary for the Indian industries and the Indian handicrafts that have a large demand in African markets.

The Indian African summit comes in the wake of several other summits and some others that would be held in the near future. There is the Chinese African summit; there also reports about thinking of holding a South Korean –African summit as well s the French African summit held once every two years.

The industrial countries started to have interest in the Dark Continent after a long period of ignoring it.

India has an edge over all other countries, as it does not interfere in the internal affairs of countries it deals with. The Indian private sector and not the public sector is the engine of cooperation between African and India.

The New Delhi summit resulted in a declaration on the view points of the two sided regarding the international problems such as the climate change, relationship between developed and developing countries, stance regarding the WTO negotiations, the role of the international financial institut9ions. A framework of cooperation in the field of agriculture, trade, industry, investment and fiancé was agreed upon.

As for the political field, focus was on boosting ties between India and the African union especially in the fields of peace, security, good governance and strengthening the civil society.

In general, the summit was successful and the two parties have to implement what they agreed upon.

Egypt played a vital role in the preparations for this summit, as there are strong and distinguished ties between the two countries. There are ongoing consultations between the leaders of the two countries, and India has become one of the most important trade partners of Egypt.

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