In his address at the India-Africa Defence Dialogue on the sidelines of the DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Rajnath Singh said that India does not believe in a hierarchical world order where a few countries are considered superior to others.
It is important to make the United Nations Security Council more representative and the global world order needs to be democratised, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said to his counterparts from Africa in his address at the India-Africa Defence Dialogue on the sidelines of the DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar.
The minister said that India does not believe in a hierarchical world order where a few countries are considered superior to others. And stated that India’s international relations are guided by the very principle of human dignity and equality. This, he said, is a part of the country’s ancient ethos.
He told the gathering of top officials from Africa that India believes that the world order needs to be democratised more and, that the multilateral forums of the world should be reflective of the change in global realities.
India-Africa
In his address, the minister stated that “African priorities are our priorities.” Adding that the partnership between the two sides is based on the ten guiding principles which have been articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he addressed the Parliament of Uganda in 2018.
The defence minister also highlighted that the two sides share a multi-faceted relationship in defence and security cooperation and India remains committed to support the African nations in their fight against extremism, terrorism and challenges of the conflict.
He also mentioned that the two sides are important stakeholders in ensuring a secure and safe maritime environment, especially within the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
India & Peacekeeping
He highlighted India’s contribution to the UN Peacekeeping operations in Africa. In fact, India is among the top three countries in the world who contribute to the peacekeeping operations under the UN flag.
And he invoked the legacy of some African Freedom Fighters like Nelson Mandela, Sam Nujoma, Jomo Kenyatta, Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, among others.
Defence Equipment
The minister invited the African nations to explore different military platforms, weapons and technologies. He talked about the ecosystem that has been created in the country which takes advantage of great technically skilled manpower.
Gandhinagar Declaration
Today as an outcome of IADD 2022 the Gandhinagar Declaration was adopted. This document has proposed to further enhance cooperation in various aspects of defence cooperation between the two sides including the field of training increasing training slots and deputation of training teams, participation in exercises and humanitarian assistance; empowerment and capability building of the defence forces of Africa.
India today also offered fellowships for experts from the countries in the region through Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis.
African countries interested in defence, trade
India has been complacent in this effort even though in terms of bilateral trade, the African Union is one of India’s largest trading partners after the US, China, and the UAE. The value of trade between India and Africa stands above $70 billion as of 2020. In comparison, that of China stands at $300 billion.
India and Africa’s relationship goes back a long way and the two share a unique bond due to their shared colonial experience in the past.
While China has emerged as Africa’s largest trading partner, New Delhi is ready to play a strategic role, observed an expert from the region. The region, according to the expert, is now getting ready to have a well-developed defence industrial complex and is ready to work with India in jointly developing and manufacturing different military platforms.
The big African countries are looking towards India for the transfer of technologies, research, training, licensed production of different weapons and platforms, solutions for handling narcotics trade, piracy, and other government to arms sales.
The African continent has been plagued with constant attacks by non-state groups, as well as violent extremist groups and India can focus on helping deal with the menace by providing technologies, surveillance and monitoring technologies, ISR devices as well as communication devices.
They are also looking at light helicopters, transport helicopters and as Financial Express Online has reported earlier India has been providing training to the pilots of some countries like Nigeria for its newly formed Aviation Corps. The African country is looking at the Chetak and Dhruv helicopters being built by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to be added to its fleet.
Also Read: Nigeria is looking for twin engine attack helicopters, interested in LCH
Financial Express Online has also reported earlier that some of the nations in the continent are looking at light patrol naval vessels, other low cost aerial platforms.
Also Read: India working towards deeper cooperation with Egypt; Builds military-to-military cooperation
There have been several visits from Egypt which has expressed interest in buying Light Combat Aircraft `LCA’ and also trainers.
https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/india-africa-focus-on-making-unsc-more-representative-gandhinagar-declaration-adopted/2718665/
