Modi's aggressive outreach can make India biggest player in Africa

It's a measure of the growing importance India attaches to its ties with Africa that will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi launch a diplomatic blitzkrieg by undertaking a five-day tour of four nations - Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya - beginning July 7.

The prime ministerial visit to these countries, taking place after several years, is part of the Modi government's foreign policy push to reinvigorate ties with Africa.

Though India has often tom-tommed its historical ties with Africa dating back many centuries, a shared colonial past with many African nations and the huge Indian diaspora in the continent, the perception is that it has allowed itself to lose ground to China.

The reasons for New Delhi seeking to impart a fresh impetus to relations with countries on the African mainland are both strategic and economic in nature.

India sees African countries as vital partners in its quest for energy security, mineral resources, food security, boosting trade and maritime security, among other things. The continent is also a happy hunting ground for Indian companies in their search for fresh pastures to do business and invest in.

Mozambique, for instance, is the world's third largest exporter of natural gas after Qatar and Australia. ONGC Videsh Ltd and Oil India Ltd have invested nearly $5 billion to acquire 20 per cent in Mozambique's Area-1 gas block in Rovuma basin.

Mozambique is also home to nearly a quarter of Indian investments totalling $8 billion.

Modi's diplomatic outreach will be part of New Delhi's efforts to keep up the momentum it had built in its engagement with Africa after hosting the gargantuan Third India-Africa Summit in New Delhi in October 2015.

The prime minister's Africa trip comes close on the heels of those made by President Pranab Mukherjee and vice-president Hamid Ansari to the continent earlier this year. While Ansari travelled to Morocco and Tunisia in May-June, Pranab visited Ghana, Namibia and Ivory Coast in mid-June.

An Indian prime minister will be setting foot on the soil of Mozambique and Kenya after a gap of over three decades. The last Indian head of government to visit Mozambique was Indira Gandhi in August, 1982. Similarly, the last Indian prime minister to visit Kenya was again Indira in 1981.

Again, it has been fairly long since an Indian prime minister made a bilateral visit to the other two African countries, South Africa and Tanzania too, happening as they did in 2006 and 2011, respectively.

All four countries are strategically located, each with a maritime boundary overlooking the Indian Ocean, with the Indian subcontinent located to the north-east. With this maritime dimension to the relationship with these four countries, New Delhi is well aware of the significance of the relationship. All four countries are members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

While New Delhi seeks to downplay the China angle to its diplomatic thrust in Africa, the growing Chinese presence in this vast continent is a matter of concern for India that is now seen as trying to play catch-up.

China, sweeping African nations with its overwhelming presence of men, materials, funding and investments, has led to it being dubbed the "neo-colonialist", the perception being that its presence in Africa is exploitative in nature.

Both New Delhi and Beijing have from time to time sought to downplay their competition in Africa, even deny any rivalry to increase footprints in the vast continent. A senior South Block official said India was not part of the scramble for Africa's rich reserves of resource and mineral.

But what should have India worried is the fact that China is now Africa's largest trading partner, displacing the United States in 2009.

India is in number fourth position with trade worth over $70 billion and investments about $35 billion. As the Modi government seeks to impart a fresh trajectory to India-Africa ties, New Delhi can perhaps take heart from the fact that China's economic growth has slowed down which is expected to hit its investments in Africa.

In November last year, the Chinese commerce ministry said investments in Africa had seen a 40 per cent year-on-year plunge. India can also draw solace from the fact that the aggressive Chinese push in African countries for the use of its natural resources - oil being just one of them - is perceived as being exploitative in nature by many.

This despite the numerous infrastructure projects China has aggressively undertaken across countries in Africa. A similar foreign policy push to forge close ties with African countries was last witnessed by India in the mid-'80s during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister.

It was a different day and age with many African nations in the nascent stages of their new-found independence from colonial rule. Apartheid was firmly in place in South Africa, which had also occupied Namibia.

The youthful prime minister went on a four-nation African tour in 1986 that took him to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. His government went on to announce the Africa Fund the following year during the non-aligned movement (NAM) Summit in Harare, Zimbabwe.

India's strong opposition to apartheid and an attack on colonialism resonated in Rajiv's speeches.

"The evil from Pretoria looms over southern Africa. Apartheid in South Africa underpins colonialism in Namibia, the occupation of parts of Angola, subversion in Mozambique, the overt and covert destabilisation of all the frontline states," Rajiv thundered during an Africa Day address in New Delhi.

During his Africa tour, Rajiv also offered India's help to African countries in areas like agriculture, human resource development, rural development, education and technical knowhow, among other things.

Unfortunately, successive Indian governments have failed to forge ahead with Rajiv's Africa outreach while China eagerly spread its tentacles through nations looking for assistance to help build their infrastructure.

In a bid to engage with African countries in a more structured manner, UPA-I and UPA-II, under the stewardship of prime minister Manmohan Singh did initiate the India-Africa Forum Summit, the first of which was held in 2008 in New Delhi and the second one in 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

However, these two meets were nowhere near the scale and magnitude of the third summit since in the first two summits, only 15 countries chosen by the African Union using the Banjul Formula, were invited. 14 countries participated in 2008; 11 in 2011.

At the Third Summit held last year, nearly 50 African countries were represented by their heads of state, heads of government, vice-presidents or ministers as the Modi government went all out with its Africa outreach.

In keeping up with its Africa outreach, India is doing well to consolidate the gains made at the Third India-Africa Forum Summit.