Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor says India’s trade with Africa was worth $37 billion last year and the country wants to double it. He also tells Bloomberg UTV’s Hindol Sengupta that the Indian government will be supportive of Indian companies’ overseas ambitions.
There’s this Africa conclave happening and you are somebody who consistently talk about the soft power of India and pushing about the trade agenda in dealing with several countries. When you look ahead into the next decade, what kind of initiatives do you see happening in this soft power, especially in trade?
Tharoor: Well, it is beyond soft power. Soft powers are things that are attractive in our society, in our culture, but trade activity is, in fact, a core activity of any government.
If you look at Africa, we have gone into this decade from a trade level of $3 billion with Africa to $37 billion last year. Over the next decade, I would like to see that double. That’s a major priority for us. This is an annual conclave we are doing with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Exim Bank, with the support of the ministry of external affairs.
So, what’s striking is we have a large number of foreign ministers – 17 of them – here (New Delhi). India’s presence in Africa, which goes back to our long solidarity with South Africa throughout the period of colonisation and the struggle against apartheid and all of that, that solidarity is now translating into trade and investment in real terms between our two countries.
Essentially we have heard so much about the South-South co-operation and so on. When you talk about inter-connectivity between Africa and India, you know we had the Bharti-MTN deal and for India Inc these things remain a concern. How do you address such concerns at the governmental level and the India Inc level?
Tharoor: Well, India Inc knows that the government is sympathetic to that aspiration. Certainly, when something like the Bharti initiatives in Africa come up, the government is sympathetic. Our high commissions and embassies are routinely instructed to be supportive of Indian businesses and when I go on official trips, for example, with African countries, I take a business delegation with me.
I’m not there to do business with them, but I’m there to tell the African government that, ‘Look our private sector can play a role in your development and you decide what you want, who and whom you want a relationship with.’ That is the sort of approach.
What does it really mean when you say you try to be helpful, on the ground?
Tharoor: Well, it can be anything like facilitating an appointment, let’s say a regulator or minister or a political authority. It’s not that easy for private operators from a foreign country to get appointments. I see no harm in high commissions or embassies helping them out. But you can go from something as simple and straightforward as that to actually facilitating and understanding a legislative environment, discussing the legislative climate in that particular country or educating our people as to what can and cannot be done in a particular country — sort of an advisor and a guide. As I see, we have to work a very clear line between not taking any commercially inappropriate steps because the government of India is not in the business of facilitating profits of any specific company. We will extend to Bharti the same considerations we extend tomorrow to a rival company.
Our point is that we want India and India Inc, as you put it, to be present, visible and successful in foreign countries.
From the purview of your ministry, what is the real opportunity and Africa?
Tharoor: It’s unlimited, literally. I mean the potential is huge at all levels, there is the classic trade of buying and selling goods and services and there is an investment possibility, agriculture is one.
There are vast areas of land ready for cultivation. With the skills and resources available in this country… I have been speaking to the president of Liberia, for example, which is a rice-consuming country with lot of suitable lands and plenty of rainfalls, but still they import rice.
If Indians are so used to growing rice, they can go and set up ventures in Liberia and they will be welcome in Liberia. We have a huge horticulture programme in Ethiopia and private businessmen who are growing flowers in Pune are now growing flowers in Ethiopia and exporting them to Europe.
There is a deep concern about the safety of Indians in Afghanistan especially after the recent attacks. How can this concern be redressed at the governmental levels?
Tharoor: Look, we are obviously emotionally shattered by the loss of lives. We lost nine Indians and many of them were real heroes. They were people from the medical mission who save lives day after day and who gave their own lives. There was a deputy general manager of a project that set up power transmission cables at 3000 meters high to bring electricity to Kabul.
So, they were people who have done so much to make life in Afghanistan better. We are providing necessary security precautions. Paramilitary forces, like ITBP… the role we are playing is not military, what we are playing is a developmental role with adequate security protection.
This is the point that people want to know. While India continues to pump in so much aid money into Afghanistan, is India cut out from the conversation about the future of Afghanistan that has been laid by Pakistan?
Tharoor: No, we were present at the London conference. We had good bilateral conversation with the key players in Afghanistan and many do consult on us on many issues and keep us informed of their thinking. So, I’m not at all concerned that India has been left out. But the important thing to understand is that, as of now, we have defined our role in a specific way — it is a humanitarian and developmental role and that’s what we are focussing on at this time.
About Pakistan… There is a news that there might be one more secretary-level talks. Where do we stand at the moment as far as Pakistan is concerned, because 26/11 seems to be a chapter that hasn’t been closed. In many sense, people think that justice hasn’t been delivered to India…
Tharoor: No, no. We have obviously got two outstanding issues. One is in bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice… not the people who have have been arrested and have been tired in Pakistan, but the ones who are absconding. They need to be found by the Pakistan authorities.
The second element is the dismantling of terror infrastructure… we are talking about closing down training camps and shutting down organisations that recruit and fund the terrorists.
We are not at all prepared to say that either of those have been done to our satisfaction as yet. But we are plugging it. Talking to Pakistan is one way of ensuring that the message gets through. You see, not talking is an option we have exercised and talking is an option we are trying to explore. But we are very clear in our minds as to where the talking must lead. We want to see concrete, visible and demonstrable action for our people.
And, we haven’t yet?
Tharoor: Well, we have not seen enough of it and we don’t want to minimise the fact. Indeed, some people are behind bars in Pakistan and are being tried. We would like to see progress and we would like to see conviction. We would like to see evidence being brought out and those who are absconding and not behind bars being arrested and being put behind bars.
Source: UTV Bloomberg