TCIL Ropes In Francophone Africa To Strengthen South-South Cooperation Between India And Africa

Posted by TCIL

The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Uganda this year, reiterated India’s engagement and focus on Africa and said, “India’s partnership with Africa is based on a model of cooperation which is responsive to the needs of African countries. It is demand-driven and free of conditionalities. It is based on our history of friendship, ties, and a sense of deep solidarity”

In August itself the Hon’ble President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, along with a delegation of Indian companies travelled to three countries in West Africa viz; Benin, Gambia, and Guinea, the highest-level visit from India ever to the three nations. TCIL was an integral partner of this mission and director (Technical) Kamendra Kumar signed MOUs of support with the country governments of Benin and Guinea.

Up until now, India’s engagement with West Africa has not figured very high on India’s agenda, partly because the countries in the region were part of Francophone Africa. India acknowledged this strategic drawback during the 2015 India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi.

Quick on the uptake, TCIL (Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd.) under the direction of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, has launched the second phase of the PAN Africa e-Network project – e-VidyaBharati (tele-education) and e-ArogyaBharati (tele-medicine) Network Project (e-VBAB), which aims to provide 5 years of free tele-education to 4000 students and free medical consultancy to 1000 doctors/nurses/paramedics. During the visit of the President of India, MOUs were signed with Benin and Guinea. Further, the project will use the latest technology tools to provide education to African youth.

Benin is one of India’s key trading partners in West Africa and regarded as one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. New Delhi has extended several lines of credit to Gambia, including USD 6.7 million in 2006 for a tractor assembly plant and approximately USD 27 million for construction of the National Assembly Building Complex that was inaugurated in October 2014. India has also trained senior Gambian officials in its officer training academies in India.

India has recently re-opened its diplomatic mission in Guinea, one of the 18 missions that New Delhi said it would open in Africa to shore up its engagement with the continent. “This will be a big boost to TCIL’s on-going operations in Guinea. Our objective is to ensure that maximum students take advantage of the free education courses made available to the students of Guinea and the rest of Africa”, said Kamendra Kumar.

MOUs have also been signed between TCIL and other African countries during the India Africa Higher Education & Skill Development Summit at New Delhi, namely with Ghana, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi. An MOU has also been signed with the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire on August 29, at Delhi.

TCIL is committed to providing healthcare education and patient consultation through tele-medicine to all 54 African countries. Super Specialty hospitals of India will be connected with two hospitals in each country to provide CME (continued medical education) and medical consultation.

TCIL is also in talks with MCIT (Ministry of Communications and IT) Egypt, to develop skill based Experience Centres in India which will encourage Indian youth to experiment with new and emerging technologies. On the other hand, TCIL’s India Cyber Academy will provide cyber security training to Egyptian youth and policy makers to combat the challenges posed by cyber-crime.

The challenges facing India and African countries are quite similar. Both possess emerging economies with a demographic dividend and youth bulge. Just as India and Africa fought colonialism, both continue to work together for a just, representative, and democratic global order that has a voice and role for one-third of humanity residing in both regions. The present realities of the world cannot keep Indian and African voices out of the decision-making process.

Another upcoming area that TCIL is exploring is solar energy. Given that at the International Solar Alliance (ISA), out of the 48 countries that have signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement, 25 countries are from the African continent.

The Indian government has approved the opening of 18 new Indian Missions in Africa over a period of four years from 2018-2021 to provide impetus to trade and economy. This will increase the number of Resident Indian Missions in Africa from 29 to 47. The first of these resident missions opened in Rwanda in July 2018. TCIL was an integral member of the Indian Africa ICT Expo at Kigali in Rwanda from August 5–6 this year. CMD TCIL, A Seshagiri Rao, who met with the Prime Minister of Rwanda, Hon’ble Dr Édouard Ngirente, the ICT minister of Rwanda, Paula Ingabire promised support on cyber security training, AI, IoT, and connectivity for rural areas. Rao also met with the Prime Ministers of Malawi and Zimbabwe during the expo and has confirmed extending support to both the countries in education and healthcare primarily, but also on rural connectivity and digital post offices.

India is currently Africa’s fourth-largest trading partner, and Africa’s third-largest export destination. Indian government initiatives like Focus Africa (2002), TEAM-9 (2004), Duty-Free Tariff Preference Scheme for Least Developed Countries (2008) have pushed bilateral trade volumes between India and Africa to USD 62.66 billion, reflecting an increase of nearly 22 percent over the previous year. “This spells great progress for TCIL’s partnership with the African Countries. We are indeed looking forward to seeing some great results in the near term”, said Rao.―CT Bureau