India and China should come together in bonding with and development of Africa

India and China should come together in bonding with and development of Africa

News:

1. Both China and India should collaborate for development of Africa and for their own benefit.

Reasons for collaboration:

2. China announced, in September 2018, a $60 billion package for Africa’s development during Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting, (a triennial assemblage of African and Chinese leaders), in addition to $60 billion pledged at the previous summit in South Africa three years ago.

3. India offered $10 billion concessional credit to Africa in 2015 for implementing developmental projects in Africa.

4. If India and China are serious about African development they should co-link their developmental strategies in Africa.

5. Even in Wuhan informal summit between India and China it was decided that China and India would coordinate their approaches for engaging a third country or set of countries, which includes jointly pursuing ‘China-India Plus X’ model in engaging with Africa.

6. There is a need to include other “like-minded partners” in Africa’s development also like Russia, who has already launched an initiative to bond with Africa.

7. A common and consensual developmental strategy for Africa involving all concerned players can exploit complementarities of all countries and outdo the limitations of sporadic and disaggregated strategies of individual players

8. A common strategy will benefit India, China, Russia and Africa more as their investments will not compete against each other.

9. But someone, preferably a post-Wuhan India, should bring other emerging economies at the table for development of Africa and initiating a structural shift of global significance towards Africa.