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`We will use visit to re-engage with Africa ,’ says Vice-President | Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on Tuesday said he would use his weeklong visit to Zambia, Malawi and Bostwana to emphasize India ’s intent to 're-engage' with countries in Africa in tune with modern-era requirements and considerations. Interacting with media accompanying him on his visit, Ansari said Africa was a region with which New Delhi has had “ very friendly and emotional contacts” dating back to the struggle for independence, to the struggle for human rights and to the struggle
against apartheid in South Africa . He said the countries and people that were
being visited were not strangers. “They are people we know, and they know us,”
he said, adding during and after the 2008 India-Africa Summit, it was felt that
there was a need to shift gears with the African continent to a “higher level,”
said Ansari. “The purpose was to re-engage with the countries in Africa in the
circumstances of the world of today. Now, there is already a certain amount of
trade which is taking place. There has been a continuous pattern of technical
assistance. There has also been some investments. It was felt that in each of
these areas, it is necessary to move into a higher gear,” Ansari said. Ansari
added: “Our training and financial assistance capabilities are much better now
than there were some years back. Today, we are in a position to render greater
assistance, but that assistance will be determined by countries that we are visiting
themselves. Where do they want assistance? What kind of assistance do they want
etc? “It will not be something that we will unilaterally thrust on them,” he said.
“The purpose of this visit is to re-engage at the personal level of these relationships.
Three of the countries, which we consider important, but they are not the only
important ones. But this is part of an approach, more of the African countries
will be visited at the senior level from the government,” the vice-president said.
He said that Zambia had been made the first port of call, as India has had a long
period of engagement with it in different ways, including in the field of military
training. There was a military assistance mission in Lusaka and the Zambian Government
has one or two big projects on which Indian assistance can and will be made available.
“Now, one thing that I do want to say, just to put things in a certain context,
we are going from a country of a billion people, now these are smaller countries
. in population, but not in size,” the Vice-President said. As far as Malawi was
concerned, Ansari said that there was a good deal of hi-tech assistance and he
hoped to finalise bilateral agreements, particularly in the sectors of agriculture,
education and small scale industry. The other area India was looking at was tapping
mineral resources, he added. The visit to Botswana was also significant in terms
of it being the second largest diamond producing country in the world. “That is
of direct interest to us, because of we have a very large and very prosperous
diamond cutting industry in Gujarat for which we have had to buy our uncut diamonds
from a central point in London, and for many many years this has been Indian policy
we have try to get these diamonds directly from the source,” Ansari said. Recalling
his diplomatic assignment in Australia about 25 years ago, Ansari said it had
been his and the Indian Government’s endeavour to push Canberra to accept proposals
for direct diamond trade engagement. At that time, he said Australia had shied
away from the proposal, but now countries were more amenable to accepting such
an engagement. “It is happening now as more and more countries are discovering
that direct dealing between the seller and buyer is better than the direct dealing
with the monopoly organization in London ,” he said. “So, we hope to develop our
cooperation in each of these areas. I will have more to say after my talks with
the leaderships of these countries,” he added. During the question and answer
session that followed his statement, the vice-president agreed with the view that
India ’s engagement with Africa has been far from satisfactory. “The intensity
of our engagement did tend to go down, but the fact that we remembered that and
took steps to correct, is what is important,” Ansari said. When asked whether
India was concerned about the China ’s high-level of engagement in Africa, the
vice-president Ansari said: “I don’t think we should look at Africa in terms of
Chinese engagement… We look at it in terms of our own likes. We will attend to
it at our pace and capabilities. I think the countries of Africa and the people
of Africa have a much longer memory of association with India and Indians. You
will find each of these countries, they are small but have well-placed Indian
communities, so, India is not just a dot on the map. India means Indians…” Ansari
also said that that the Indian style is not to be aggressive, and as an example
cited the case of the elephant, which walks at its own pace and can never be underestimated.
As far as bilateral engagement was concerned, he said it should be seen from two
perspectives – one that there should no interference in the domestic affairs of
other countries, and secondly with human rights norms are evolving constantly
– both abroad and domestically, every effort must be made to safeguard such rights,
while ensuring that neither are in conflict with the other. He also said that
talks relating to UN reforms and UNSC members were at an advanced stage and had
reached a certain level of maturity. They were now at a point where members are
ready to create a document. He described the United Nation as a very big body
and in that, the African segment is the largest, and therefore, from India ’s
point of view, very important. “I think we have a broad convergence of views with
most countries in Africa ,” Ansari concluded. |
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