At this time of India’s presidency of the G20, it is imperative to bring the African Union as a member of the group to raise the voice of the Global South
India expands its Africa outreach
AKIPRESS.COM - India has always stood with Africa even if it formally announced its Africa policy only during the visit of PM Modi to Uganda in 2018, Asian Lite reported.
The African Union and several regional organizations have attempted to discourage military coup d’etat that was quite frequent a couple of decades ago.
Besides their politico-economic agony Africans have also been afflicted by the Corona pandemic. This has been worsened due to lack of health infrastructure, capacity, expertise and non-availability of vaccines despite COVAX and other commitments.
No wonder South African President Ramaphosa recently lamented the vaccine inequity calling it “Vaccine Apartheid” in Paris. The G7 countries have committed a billion doses but time is of essence.
Challenges for India’s external engagements in 2021
Geopolitically, India’s relevance in the Indo-Pacific has been established in 2020. External policy choices resulting from domestic economic stress and tensions with China will shape India’s role in Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region in 2021
Source: Reuters
The dynamics of India’s economic and strategic engagements with the outside world have changed significantly in the last few years, particularly in 2020. This has resulted from the health and economic implications of COVID-19 pandemic as well as the military standoff between India and China. The combination of economic stress and strategic choices as a result of the India-China tensions will be felt on Indian economic and foreign policies in 2021. This in turn, will shape India’s integration with the evolving Asian economic architecture and sharpen its strategic engagements within the broader Indo-Pacific region.