AFRICA-INDIA FRAMEWORK FOR COOPERATION

The Heads of State and Government and Heads of Delegation of Africa, representing the Continent, the African Union and its Institutions along with the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, recognizing the rich history of Africa-India relationship and noting with satisfaction the existing close, deep and multi-layered relations between the two sides and realizing the need to give a new dimension to this cooperation, have decided to adopt this Framework for Cooperation between Africa and India.
 

The two parties agree to cooperate in the areas enumerated herein.

1. ECONOMIC COOPERATION
 

As a conducive and supportive international economic environment is important for Africa and India in their quest for a mutually beneficial economic development, the two parties hereby recognize the need to foster such environment by reinforcing efforts to promote between them, trade and industry, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), development of Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) and Africa’s regional integration. In this regard, the two parties have agreed to cooperate in the following areas:

i. Agriculture
 

Africa and India agree that agricultural development is an effective approach to ensure food security, eradicating poverty and improve peoples' livelihood, and agree to strengthen Africa and India cooperation in this sector in order to improve the food security of Africa and to increase its exports to world markets. They emphasize sustainable development of agricultural and animal resources with effective support for scientific research for conservation of land and environment. The cooperation will focus on the following areas:

• capacity building and sharing of experience in policy analysis and planning relating to agriculture sector;
 

•cooperation in water resource management and irrigation practices, agro- infrastructure development, transfer of applied agricultural technology and skills transfer;

•cooperation to combat agro-based diseases;

•capacity building/ training for increasing the capacity of small land holder African food producers to comply with the required quality and safety standards, including extension activity and agricultural credit policies;

•sharing experiences and information on appropriate storage and processing technologies and jointly promoting the uptake of African and Indian developed technologies for diversification and value addition in relations to food and agricultural products;

• sharing of expertise and information between commodity boards of Africa and India with a view to learning from each other's experiences in farm mechanization, post harvest technology, organic farming, policy and regulatory frameworks and setting up of cross border commodity exchange boards;

• enhancing market opportunities for African value added agricultural products;

• cooperation in livestock management, breeding technologies, meat processing, dairy industry development, fisheries and aqua¬culture, including exchange and transfer of applied technology;

• establishing linkages between agriculture and industrial development in order to support and nurture agro-processing industries; and

• enhancing cooperation between agricultural training centres and relevant research institutes.

ii. Trade, Industry and Investment

Africa and India recognize the need to expand the two-way trade, greater market access and investment facilitation and decide to take the following steps:

• technical assistance and capacity-building in trade negotiations, dispute settlement and implementation of different agreements under WTO, as well as in enhancing competitiveness in the world economy;

• strengthening linkages of enterprises on both sides with a view to developing global markets for products and services available on both sides;

• maximizing the benefits of trade liberalization through improved market access for products of export interest to African countries and India, including striving to provide duty-free and quota-free market access for African products;

• promoting and facilitating enhanced trade cooperation between the two sides, including through value addition/processing;

• organization of business delegations and participation in trade fairs and exhibitions;

• preparation of a Joint Strategy and Action Plan for mapping of resources and opportunities for entrepreneurship development and facilitation aimed at mutual growth;

• developing and implementing projects for information dissemination regarding entrepreneurship opportunities on both sides, business-to-business contacts, such as through business conclaves and upgrading of trade facilitation through commercial missions of both sides; and

• enhancing corporate governance and social responsibility.

iii. Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs)

Africa and India recognize that for a sustainable and successful industrial policy, development of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises is necessary as the first step towards industrialization in African countries. With that objective in focus, the following steps will be taken:

• capacity building through Entrepreneurship Development Programmes;

• capacity building on policy formulation and institutional framework development for the SMEs;

• promotion of Joint Ventures between business enterprises of Africa and India;

• training in Africa and India for upgrading of skills in the areas of conventional and hi-tech training; and

• promoting the export of SME products, including projects on turnkey basis.

iv. Finance

Recognizing the importance of the financial sector, cooperation in the following areas is decided:

• sharing of experiences and capacity-building on policy and regulatory frameworks in the financial sector including the microfinance sector;

• sharing of experiences in mobilization of domestic savings;

• capacity-building in development of automated trading systems for stock-exchange and development of cross¬-border stock-exchanges, such as Pan-African Stock exchanges; and

• mobilization of financial resources to fund the various projects envisaged in the areas of cooperation.

v. Regional Integration

Recognizing the importance of regional cooperation and economic integration in development endeavours, Africa and India decide as follows:

• provision of financial support to mutually agreed integration programmes carried out by the African Union and the RECs, especially those of inter-regional and continental importance;

• promotion and support for regional and inter-regional projects, including infrastructural development; and

• provision of technical assistance to support the establishment of the financial institutions of the African Union.

2. POLITICAL COOPERATION

Bearing in mind that peace, security and development are inseparable as there can be no lasting development without peace and recognizing the need for closer cooperation in the field of governance structures and civil society, India resolves to support Africa in meeting her objectives of sustainable development, prosperity and peace through the following steps:

i. Peace and Security

• cross-fertilization of the experiences of the AU and India in peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction efforts taking into account the AU’s Policy Framework for Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD);

• cooperation in undertaking lessons-learned exercises and sharing of experiences regarding the role of women in peacekeeping operations;

• cooperation in developing and implementing training of trainers towards enhancing the civilian component of peacekeeping operations;

• technical assistance and capacity building to tackle the challenge of money laundering and terrorist financing;

• cooperation in duplication of the Female Formed Police Unit;

• cooperation in developing and implementing a Training of Trainers Programme towards effective policing and police support as ¬part of peacekeeping operations;

• sharing of experiences and information to enhance capacity to fight international terrorism, including through the African Centre on the Study and Research on Terrorism.

• cooperation in combating drug trafficking, as well as trafficking in women and children; and

• technical assistance and capacity building in disaster management and humanitarian intervention.

ii. Civil Society and Good Governance

• cross-fertilization of ideas on decentralization of governance and building capacity of local governments through administrative reforms and enhancing public participation in local and central government;

• establishing a platform to initiate, deepen and maintain cooperation in civil establishments and training institutes in Africa and India on various relevant issues;

• create a joint platform for discussion of global political and economic issues with a view to reinforcing South-South positions that will enable Africa and India to have greater leverage in the international fora;

• cross-fertilization and sharing of experiences on public service reforms and human rights regimes with a view to strengthening mutual competences in these areas;

• sharing of experiences on strategies for deepening democratization at the local level, management of ethnic diversity and wealth distribution in a democratic context and the professionalisation of the public services;

• exchange of expertise and sharing of experiences on the conduct of elections in vast and complex terrains.

• sharing experiences in harnessing resources from Diaspora;

• helping to strengthen the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights;

• interaction of legal experts/lawyers through Bar Associations; and

• cooperation in legal research methodology and in emerging international legal issues, such as the mechanisms, processes and regulatory frameworks that support outsourcing.

3. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

i. Science and Technology

• developing robust networks among leading institutes for Science and Technology for collaborative research and development;

• sharing experiences in technology transfer and development of appropriate technology;

• sharing experiences in capacity building for strengthening the role of science and technology;

• cooperation in setting quality standards and recognition awards in science, technology and innovation; and

• cooperation in management of intellectual property, including indigenous knowledge.

ii. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Recognizing that Information Technology is emerging as one of the major vehicles of economic growth and has become fundamental part of infrastructure and improvement of myriad sectors of socio¬economic activities, Africa and India agree to take the following steps:

•cooperate closely to ensure quick and effective implementation and roll out of the Pan-African E-Network Project being funded by India. The project will be a major step forward in removing the digital divide, ensure connectivity of all African countries and provide much needed telemedicine and tele-education to the masses of African countries;

• cooperate in the implementation of the digital solidarity mechanism developed within the framework of NEPAD.

• cooperation in capacity building in devising model legal and policy frameworks for ICT, such as on e-Commerce, e¬-Governance, e-Health etc.;

• cooperation and information sharing among ICT regulatory bodies;

• development of Information and Communication Technology tools and applications aimed at improving public administration at different levels of government, taxation management, public financing and delivery of public services;

• promotion of cooperation in the range of non-material knowledge-based human resources such as technology, organization, information, education and skills development;

• cooperation in setting up Community Information Centers using IT to accelerate socio-economic development, with a view to providing rural connectivity and bridging the digital divides; and

4. COOPERATION IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING

i. Education

Africa and India recognize that human resource development is vital to achieve the socio-economic development goals of Africa and universal mass education is a key factor in this endeavor. To achieve universal education with special emphasis on quality and gender equality, Africa and India will collaborate in the following areas:

• sharing experiences and building capacity for educational policy planning and administration through the effective utilization of financial and statistical information on education;

• increasing the scholarships available for Africa from the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programmes with focus on science, technology and information technology-related courses;

• sharing of experiences and best practices in "Mid-day Meal Programme”;

• collaboration in the development and production of teaching and learning materials, including equipment for teaching science and technology and textbooks, especially for universities;

• collaboration in designing and implementation of Open and Distance Education/Learning Programmes with attendant capacity building for personnel required, such as teachers and ICT technicians;

• establishing programmes for exchange of students and staff through twinning leading African and Indian Universities;

• cooperation in equipping scientific laboratories and training workshops for Technical and Vocational Education; and

• cooperation in establishing programmes in capacity building and entrepreneurship for youth through ICT.

ii. Health

Africa and India acknowledge that upgrading and streamlining healthcare systems and increasing access to healthcare for the people of Africa and India is a critical issue and agree to increase cooperation in the field of health promotion and healthcare systems through the following areas of cooperation:

• sharing experiences, information and expertise on traditional systems of medicine within recognized intellectual property regime;

• training and capacity building for health professionals and physicians;

• sharing experience and information on healthcare systems development and community health programmes;

• linking the centers of excellence in the health sector, such as research and training institutes, etc.;

• focus on cooperation in devising and implementing programmes for enhancing universal access to adequate medical services, including developing the telemedicine infrastructure and technology to enable patients to receive quality health services, such as medical diagnostic and other services to which they would not ordinarily have access due to distance and/or limitation in the availability of specialists;

• strengthen the indigenous manufacturing capacities and to make available affordable and quality pharmaceutical products, especially essential medicines. This may also include exchange of technical experts and collaborative efforts;

• enhance cooperation in controlling HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and other communicable diseases;

• cooperation in combating the proliferation and dumping of counterfeit medicines;

• local production of oral rehydration therapy.

iii. Water and Sanitation

In both Africa and India, many communities lack access to adequate and safe drinking water, as well as basic sanitation resulting in prevalence of diseases related to poor hygiene and environmental sanitation. In order to achieve the MDGs and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and Plan of Action, efforts have to be doubled particularly during 2008, the International Year of Sanitation. In this connection, cooperation could focus on sharing experiences and promoting programmes in the following areas:

• development of sanitation infrastructure, particularly in urban and sub-urban settings;

• urban development, in particular, combating the mushrooming of slums and shanty towns;

• waste management; and

• putting in place appropriate framework for water quality control and water treatment.

iv. Culture and Sports

Recognizing the need to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between different nations and ethnic groups and achieving common prosperity and progress of mankind, as well as underlining the importance of cultural exchanges and cooperation, Africa and India resolve to enhance cultural relations between the two sides. To this end, focus will be given to the following areas:

• encourage people-to-people contacts and exchanges to deepen the traditional friendship between the two sides;

• strengthen contacts among young people through encouraging and supporting exchange of students among schools and universities;

• encourage the visit of Professors under the bilateral cultural exchange programmes at prestigious universities in Africa and India and encourage creating/maintaining chair of African/Indian studies; ¬

• encourage bilateral cultural exchange programmes of performing art troupes and art exhibitions;

• foster closer linkages in the film industry sector and encourage holding of film festivals, as well as increase interaction and cooperation for the film industry of Africa and India; and

• cooperation in the area of sports.

v. Poverty Eradication

A significant percentage of the population in Africa and India live below the poverty line and many of the working poor lack social protection. Unemployment and underemployment, particularly for the youth, resulting in internal and external migration are contributing to unplanned rapid urbanization. These are serious issues for both Africa and India and both can cooperate to resolve these problems in the following areas:

• strengthening cooperation in the framework of the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);

• cooperation in the implementation of poverty alleviation strategies;

• sharing experiences in employment creation and business management;

• development of social security systems; and

• sharing of best practices in development of credit unions, especially in rural settings.

5. TOURISM

As a significant industry that provides economic benefits and promotes friendship and socio-cultural understanding among nations, Africa and India hereby resolve to continue to promote the growth of tourism, as well as expand people-to-people exchanges in their two regions to further promote understanding, trust and cooperation between their peoples. To this end, focus will be given to the following areas:

• promotion of close interaction between relevant authorities in Africa and India to facilitate coherence of policies and initiatives related to tourism development;

• adoption of appropriate measures to prevent all threats to tourism, which may have direct impact on tourism;

• strengthening of partnership with the private sector especially travel agencies, hotels, airlines and other tourism related establishments, as well as the media, with a view to advancing tourism development between the two regions; and

• promotion of general tourism and offering joint tourism packages, including eco-tourism, to utilize the geographical diversity of the two sides.

6. INFRASTRUCTURE, ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

Recognizing that energy and infrastructure is fundamental to the economic growth of developing countries and acknowledging that infrastructural development and environmental sustainability are some of the priority areas of NEPAD, Africa and India agree to place energy, infrastructure and environmental sustainability as one of the key areas of cooperation and commit ourselves to the following areas:

• development of public-private partnerships in infrastructure development;

• cooperation in the development of transport and telecommunications networks;

• cooperation in the field of exploration and exploitation of natural resources, as well as value addition;

• creation of enabling environment for investment and development of renewable and non-renewable energy sources;

• cooperation and capacity-building in best practices and adaptation on the impact of climate change and desertification;

• exchange of experiences on recent advances on alternative energy sources and sustainable land management;

• development of cooperation in fibre optic cables construction around and within Africa for broadband access network specifically for landlocked countries; and

• technical cooperation for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

7. MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION

Africa and India agree that closer linkages and cooperation in the field of media and communications will generate greater synergy in their relationship, enhance a South-South communication culture, enable more systematic use of their shared cultural and social heritage and also improve the process of economic development in Africa and India. In this regard, they have decided to focus cooperation efforts in the following areas:

• cooperate to promote common South–South strategies on flow of information in media;

• enhance linkages among news agencies; and

• enhance training in human resource development, corporate

communications, and modern technology in media developments.

Without prejudice to India’s on-going and future programmmes at the bilateral, REC and other levels, we agree to develop jointly, within a period of one year, a joint plan of action at a continental level and an appropriate follow-up mechanism to implement our Framework for Cooperation.

Done at Delhi this ninth day of April, 2008