Courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs Courtesy: BRICS Forum - India 2021
2 September 2021

Is BRICS still relevant?

The 13th BRICS summit will be held virtually on 9 September 2021 and India is the host. The grouping has managed to hold its ground in an era of increasingly complex geopolitics. While immediate goals are important, in the longer term it must cooperate on counter terrorism, improve trade and work towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

48645255438_77e7265a4b_c Courtesy: TICAD7/Flickr
3 October 2019

TICAD 7’s agenda: engaging private enterprise

The Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development was a departure from earlier editions of it. Japan, which is changing tack as a competitor to China in Africa, held back from publicising the number of heads of state present to prevent any comparisons with other such forums and made no further commitments on Overseas Development Assistance. The accent, instead, was on increasing Japanese private sector engagement

shutterstock_703229845 Courtesy: Shutterstock
8 August 2019

Africa’s ambitious path to trade growth

The African Continental Free Trade Area, launched in July, is a landmark achievement, aiming to eliminate tariffs on 90% of products covered by intra-Africa trade and thereby spur entrepreneurial initiative and job creation. It envisages many other gains as well, but the hurdles in their realisation cannot be wished away. An analysis

DSC_0155 Courtesy: Gateway House
25 April 2019

Egypt, India’s Africa pivot

Egypt, which is the 2019 chair of the African Union, is critically positioned to exert a geostrategic influence across Africa. In a conversation with Gateway House, Egyptian ambassador to India, Dr Heba Salaheldin Elmarassi, spoke on a wide range of issues that link India and Egypt, including trade, investment and security, North Africa’s political turbulence and the expanding Chinese footprint in the continent

Indian-Ocean-Routes-IDRW Courtesy: Bharat Shakti
17 January 2019

India, Japan and the Asia Africa Growth Corridor

India and Japan, two countries wanting to enhance the quality of their engagement in Africa’s development, have historically taken fundamentally different approaches to the task. But now, both are being guided by geoeconomic imperatives in aligning their strategy in the region— and the Asia Africa Growth Corridor offers many opportunities for synergy at the B2B level

44462476151_09bdc8fc7f_o Courtesy: Flickr / Paul Kagame
15 November 2018

China, Africa and the art of mutual benefit

China’s footprint in the African continent is growing because it is a zealous summiteer. And now, in response to ‘debt-trap’ criticism, it also appears to be stressing private sector investment in Africa over loans and credit. Are there any takeaways for India in this?