India’s Modi Visits Mozambique: Energy, Defence, Agriculture and Coal

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India’s Modi Visits Mozambique: Energy, Defence, Agriculture and Coal

4:24 CAT | 08 Apr 2016

In File Club of Mozambique / India's prime minister Narendra Modi greets president Filipe Nyusi upon his arrival for a state visit to India on August 2015

After hosting the mammoth India-Africa summit here last year, the government is seriously ramping up its Africa engagement.

Prime minister Narendra Modi is preparing to embark on a high-voltage visit to Africa this summer. He is expected to visit South Africa, Mozambique and Kenya in July. President Pranab Mukherjee is likely to travel to Ghana and Nigeria, also during this year. Vice-President Hamid Ansari will kick off India’s year in Africa with his visit to Morocco and Senegal this month.

It has long been recognized that Africa holds huge importance for India. But it was last in 2011 when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Ethiopia for the India-Africa summit. While Chinese leaders have made regular forays into the African countries, Indian leaders have traditionally preferred to invite Africa leaders over.

It was therefore a novel experience for many of Modi’s ministers last year when they travelled to almost all 54 countries to invite their leaders to the India-Africa summit in New Delhi. The Modi government is focusing on Africa for a number of reasons — energy, agriculture and security, apart from opening markets in Africa for Indian companies, products and services.

Ansari’s visit to Morocco comes at an important time. Morocco’s ruler was one of the big draws at the India-Africa summit last year. It’s not only for phosphates that Morocco takes a big spot on India’s radar. India is looking more and more at Morocco as a security partner, particularly in counter-terrorism. Senegal as the premier Francophone country in Africa has been pushing for greater Indian engagement. President Pranab Mukherjee will be India’s highest level presence in western Africa. Nigeria, for instance, has grown to become one of India’s top oil sources, and there is a strong security imperative as Nigeria battles Boko Haram, an al-Qaida affiliate in their country.

While the PM’s visit to South Africa will proceed along predictable lines, his visit to Mozambique will be more important. Mozambique has grown to become one of India’s biggest investments in the energy sector, for example a power supply project in Maputo is funded by an Indian line of credit.

Since 2015 India and Mozambique have renewed a defence relationship that is likely to get a further fillip. Prime Minister Modi, after his meeting with Mozambique President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi last year had said, “I have discussed ways in which we can intensify cooperation in maritime security and ocean economy. In recent years, our cooperation has included ship visits and hydrography surveys for Mozambique. Mozambique can be a large and a proximate source of natural gas, coal and other minerals that are so important to drive our growth. It also offers huge opportunities in agriculture sector.”

Source: Times of India