India to forge strategic partnership with Africa through support for AfCFTA — experts

As the volume of trade between Africa and India has multiplied in the past 20 to 30 years and India has become the continent’s third largest trading partner after China and the EU, analysts say that the African Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers significant opportunities for New Delhi to help the continent realize its vision of a prosperous Africa.
“From prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nigeria, and inaugurating the naval base in Mauritius, to deploying defense attaches in several key African countries, 2024 has been a pivotal year for the India-Africa relationship,” says an analysis published by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi. Reflecting an unprecedented renaissance in relations between India and Africa, two-way trade has grown from $5.3 billion in 2001 to some $70 billion in 2013, though it still remains much below China’s $200 billion trade with the continent. Some experts call on New Delhi to focus on the AfCFTA that is an “often-ignored area that could shape the course of India’s future engagements with the continent.”
Indian government should use its experience dealing with similar challenges in boosting trade and economic growth and assist African nations in implementing and improving the AfCFTA, an ORF analysis says. India and the AfCFTA member states could work together to boost investment in transport infrastructure. With its vast experience in the agricultural trade, India could also help implement agri-tech initiatives for African smallholder farmers by empowering modern technologies and encouraging digitalization. India’s pharma-industry — once a global supplier and now an economic powerhouse — could also invest in Africa’s agro-industry and equip the local farmers with drones, artificial intelligence (AI) and other more sophisticated technologies to assist with with agricultural production, yield prediction, and tracking the health of soil and crops.