India's Africa Policy

SWP Research Paper Christian Wagner India’s Africa Policy Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs SWP Research Paper 9 July 2019, Berlin Abstract Since the 1990s, India has significantly widened its relations with Africa. Three summits, increasing trade and newly agreed cooperation on security demonstrate the increased importance of the African continent to India’s foreign policy. With this commitment to Africa, India continually underscores its claim to act as advocate for the countries of the Global South. Moreover, African countries now account for a larger share of India’s energy imports, thereby reducing its dependence on Middle Eastern countries. India is also trying to establish a counterweight to China’s activities in Africa. However, India’s decision-makers realise that they cannot seriously compete with China in this arena. Germany and India share a number of similar economic and political interests. There is therefore great potential for closer cooperation in Africa and the Indian Ocean. The common goal is to strengthen state institutions in Africa, to promote economic development, and to prevent African states from becoming unilaterally dependent on third countries, especially China. This could potentially be translated into a number of programmes as part of triangular cooperation between India, Germany and African countries, such as capacity building, initial and further training, and the strengthening of small and medium-sized enterprises. Particularly in the context of the strategic partnership between India and Germany, this could be an important step in taking bilateral relations to a new level. SWP Research Paper Christian Wagner India’s Africa Policy Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs SWP Research Paper 9 July 2019, Berlin All rights reserved. © Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, 2019 SWP Research Papers are peer reviewed by senior researchers and the execu- tive board of the Institute. They are also subject to fact- checking and copy-editing. For further information on our quality control pro- cedures, please visit the SWP website: https:// www.swp-berlin.org/en/ about-swp/quality- management-for-swp- publications/. SWP Research Papers reflect the views of the author(s). SWP Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs Ludwigkirchplatz 3–4 10719 Berlin Germany Phone +49 30 880 07-0 Fax +49 30 880 07-200 www.swp-berlin.org [email protected] ISSN 1863-1053 doi: 10.18449/2019RP09 Translation by Tom Genrich (English version of SWP-Studie 11/2019) Table of Contents 5 Issues and Conclusions 7 An Outline of India’s Africa Policy 9 Phases in India-Africa relations 9 Relations before 1991 10 New Africa Policy since 1991 11 Political Relations 13 The Indian Diaspora 15 Economic Cooperation 15 Trade and Energy 17 South-South Cooperation 20 Foreign Investments 21 Security Policy 22 The Indian Ocean 24 Prospects 25 Opportunities and Prospects for Indo-German Cooperation in Third Countries 27 Abbreviations Dr Christian Wagner is a Senior Fellow in the Asia Division at SWP. Issues and Conclusions India’s Africa Policy Since gaining independence in 1947, the Indian Union has developed good relations with African states. Initially, the focus was on political issues such as support for decolonisation. Later, India advanced cooperation in international organisations within the framework of South-South cooperation, thus reinforc- ing its claim to act as a representative of developing countries. Since 1991, when liberalisation began in India, economic and security issues have increasingly come to the fore. The African continent has gained greater importance for India since the 1990s. The most obvious evidence for this are the three India-Africa summits in 2008, 2011 and 2015. The most significant shift is that India has imported more energy from African countries and thus successfully diversified its energy imports. It has thus been able to reduce its dependence on the Middle East. Africa is also relevant to India’s global ambitions. India continues to see itself as an advocate for the Global South and finds support for this role especially in Africa. The voting weight of African states plays an important part in a reform of the United Nations (UN) and India’s aspiration for a permanent seat on the Security Council. Moreover, the volume of trade between India and Africa has increased significantly since the 1990s. However, Africa’s share of India’s foreign trade is still rather small compared to that of Asia, Europe or the Middle East. Indian governments have tried to appeal to the Indian diaspora using various initiatives since the 1990s and have also encouraged it to invest more in India – yet this is proving to be relatively difficult in the African context. With a few exceptions, African countries do not have very large Indian populations. Moreover, many members of this group, not least on the advice of former Indian governments, have now adopted the citizenship of their African home countries. In geopolitical terms, India’s Africa policy is of interest both in its relations with China and with Ger- many and Europe. There is often talk of competition between India and China in Africa. Yet the foreign policy makers in New Delhi are well aware that they do not have the means and instruments to compete with China in Africa. Nevertheless, China does play a SWP Berlin India’s Africa Policy July 2019 5 Issues and Conclusions role in India’s foreign policy towards Africa. Formats such as the summits with Africa are presumably based on comparable Chinese initiatives. Further- more, in response to the Chinese Belt and Road Ini- tiative (BRI), India has developed new foreign policy strategies, such as the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), which is to be implemented jointly with Japan. The shift in India’s foreign policy towards closer cooperation with partners in third countries also opens up new opportunities for cooperation with Ger- many and the European Union (EU). This idea was first formulated in 2008, but was not followed up by India at the time. Regions such as Africa and the Indian Ocean, where Germany and India have a number of common interests, are ideal for such cooperation. First, both states are keen to secure sea routes in the Indian Ocean and to take action against piracy. From a Ger- man perspective, this is also meant to combat the causes of forced displacement and to reduce migra- tion flows. Second, Germany and India want to prevent African states from becoming too politically and economically dependent on China due to increasing debt. Given their overlapping interests, Germany and India have great potential for future closer cooperation in Africa or the Indian Ocean. The two states share a concern to establish and strengthen state institutions and promote economic development within Africa. This could be translated into a number of programmes, such as capacity building, initial and further training, and the strengthening of small and medium-sized enterprises. Especially in the context of their strategic partnership, this might be an important step that could take bilateral relations between India and Germany to a new level. SWP Berlin India’s Africa Policy July 2019 6 An Outline of India’s Africa Policy An Outline of India’s Africa Policy India has significantly increased its engagement with Central Eastern Europe, its economic activities under African states since the 1990s. The most visible ex- the aegis of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have pression of this was the three India-Africa summits in been interpreted more critically, including by Ger- 2008, 2011 and 2015, and the noticeable increase many. India has traditionally been regarded as in trade between the two parties. China’s rival, even though bilateral relations have improved markedly since the Doklam crisis of 2017.1 Africa has traditionally played But the Indian Union is one of the few states in Asia an important role in Indian to refuse to participate in the BRI. foreign policy. As regards regional issues, India and Germany also have a number of common interests. First, the Indian The African continent has traditionally played a Ocean is of great strategic importance to both. As a major political role in Indian foreign policy. Indian leading trading nation, Germany has an overriding governments have supported the anti-colonial libera- interest in secure world trade, the main routes of tion movements in African countries and worked which include the Indian Ocean. The threat to the sea closely with them in the Non-Aligned Movement and lanes of communication posed by pirates, for instance the G77. Economically, however, the African con- off the Horn of Africa, or a race for geostrategic zones tinent was for a long time not particularly interesting of influence in the region thus directly affect German for India, since the latter’s economic policy had a and European interests. The same applies to India, strong domestic focus. It was not until the liberalisa- which wants to increase its influence in the global tion of India post-1991 that Africa became more im- economy. Furthermore, India is highly dependent on portant as an economic partner, especially in view of energy imports from the Middle East and Africa and India’s growing demand for energy. thus also depends on safe shipping routes in the In- Why should India’s Africa policy be of interest to dian Ocean. For several years, India has been pur- German and European foreign policy? In 2000 India suing a policy of security partnership with Indian and Germany agreed on a strategic partnership; they Ocean island states so as to counter China’s growing have considerably expanded their political, economic, involvement in the region.

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