New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the opening of 18 new Indian Missions in Africa over a four year period from 2018-2021.
The 18 new Indian Missions in Africa will be opened in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Rwanda, Sao Tome& Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland and Togo.
The decision will enhance India’s diplomatic outreach in the African continent and allow India to engage with Indian Diaspora in African countries.
Opening of new Missions is also a step towards implementing the vision of enhanced co-operation and engagement with Africa.
After this decision, the number of Resident Indian Missions in Africa will increase from 29 to 47 in year 2021.
The changing Indo-African relationship is characterized by a greater focus on capacity building, development cooperation, and economic and technological initiatives.
Of all the initiatives taken by the GoI in Africa, the Pan- African e-Network project has the largest visibility. This project was inaugurated in February 2009 and was initially conceived and approved by India’s Union Cabinet in July 2007 at a budgeted cost of US$ 125 million. This initial cost was to cover the cost of supply, installation, testing and commissioning of hardware and software, end-to-end connectivity, satellite bandwidth, and operations and maintenance (O&M) support along with provision of tele-education and tele-medicine services to fifty-three African countries for five years. The project was also awarded the Hermes Prize for Innovation by the European Institute of Creative Strategies and Innovation in 2010.
The ‘Delhi Declaration’ of 2015 envisages the India-Africa partnership in development. On the same lines, India pledged to provide a credit of $10 billion to Africa for development projects along with a grant assistance of $600 million.
This grant includes development fund, health fund and scholarship for students in India. The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme has already laid base for knowledge sharing and has acted as a bridge to connect students from both the sides.
The changing Indo-African relationship is characterized by a greater focus on capacity building, development cooperation, and economic and technological initiatives.
