UPSC foundations · Note 113
India and Africa: the Forum Summit and South-South cooperation
Study context: GS II — India and its neighbourhood — relations; bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests; effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian Diaspora.
India's engagement with Africa draws on a shared history of decolonisation, the Non-Aligned Movement and support for liberation movements, and on contemporary interests in trade, energy, health, education and peacekeeping. The India-Africa Forum Summit, or IAFS, is the official platform for that relationship. The first summit was held in New Delhi in April 2008, with leaders of fourteen African countries chosen by the African Union, and it adopted the Delhi Declaration and the Africa-India Framework for Cooperation.
Subsequent summits were held in Addis Ababa in 2011 and in New Delhi in 2015, the third summit being the first to invite all African countries rather than a limited group under the earlier Banjul formula. The summits have covered agriculture and food security, health, education, science and technology, infrastructure, trade and investment, and peace and security. Capacity building is a recurring theme: India offers training, scholarships and technical assistance, including through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme, which predates the summit format.
Health and pharmaceuticals illustrate the practical content of the partnership. Indian generic medicines supply a large share of affordable drugs in many African countries, and Indian training and hospital partnerships support health systems. Trade and investment have grown, with Indian companies active in sectors such as telecommunications, agriculture and manufacturing, while African exports to India include oil, minerals and agricultural products. The partnership is often described as South-South cooperation, meaning cooperation between developing countries on more equal terms than traditional aid relationships.
The relationship is not without tensions. African partners have at times criticised the pace of project delivery, the terms of lines of credit and the treatment of African students in India, while India has sought greater African support for its positions in multilateral forums, including United Nations reform. For civil studies, India-Africa relations are a test of whether South-South cooperation can be genuinely mutual, or whether it reproduces the asymmetries it claims to avoid.
Key takeaways
- The first India-Africa Forum Summit was held in New Delhi in April 2008, with fourteen African countries chosen by the African Union.
- Summits followed in Addis Ababa in 2011 and New Delhi in 2015, when all African countries were invited for the first time.
- Capacity building, health, education and training are central to the partnership, alongside trade, energy and infrastructure.
Why it matters for civil studies
India-Africa relations test the idea of South-South cooperation: partnership is judged by delivery, terms and treatment, not by summit declarations alone.
Think it through
Should South-South cooperation be judged by the same standards as traditional aid, or by different standards of mutual benefit?
From the Public Notes companion study collection. Editorial context and corrections.