India bats for Africa's permanent seat at UNSC

Africa is continent of future, says FM

India on Tuesday made a strong pitch for a permanent seat for Africa at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) stressing on the fact that both India and Africa can no longer remain excluded from global governance institutions.

“Although Indians and Africans comprise 2.5 billion people, our nations continue to be excluded from appropriate representation in the institutions of global governance. India and Africa can no longer be excluded from their rightful place of the permanent membership of the UN Security Council,” said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at the ministerial meeting of the third India-Africa Forum Summit here on Tuesday.

Questioning the legitimacy of UNSC’s governance structure, Swaraj said the African continent represents one-sixth of humanity, hence, it cannot be excluded. “Unless we put in place more democratic global governance structures, the more equitable and just international security and development frameworks that are essential for the collective peace and prosperity of this planet, will continue to elude us. There can no longer be pockets of prosperity in vast areas of under-development and insecurity,” she said.

Highlighting India’s contribution to the development of Africa, Swaraj said in the past 10 years, a total of $9 billion in concessional credit has been approved for nearly 140 projects in 40 African countries; out of this, 60 projects have been completed.

She added India has granted duty-free market access for 98 per cent tariff lines for the least developed countries of Africa. Two-way trade between India and Africa reached $72 billion in 2014-15, from $8.2 billion in 2004-05.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released a report titled Enhancing India’s Trade Relations with Africa: A Brief Analysis by Exim Bank.

“India and Africa are rapidly growing developing economies in the world. While Africa is the continent of the future, India is an emerging economy. As the global economy continues to recover slowly from the global financial and economic crises, India and Africa together can become the engines of growth for the entire world,” Jaitley stated.

According to the EXIM Bank report, due to large-scale imports from the region, India's trade deficit with Africa also increased to $5.7 billion in 2014 from $1.4 billion in 2004. Amongst the major trade partners with which India's maintains a trade deficit, the largest countries are Nigeria, Angola, Botswana, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Cameroon, Guinea, South Africa and Côte d'Ivoire.