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India, Africa resolve to develop action plan on cooperation
| Both sides note their desire to become members of the U.N. Security Council and agree to discuss the issue more intensively in future |
NEW DELHI: India and Africa resolved to join hands in giving priority to the interests of developing countries while addressing critical global challenges such as climate change, multilateral trade negotiations and reforms to international institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
However, the Delhi Declaration, which expressed these intentions, stopped short of supporting New Delhi’s candidature for a permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council. Both sides merely “noted” their desire to become members of the Council and agreed to discuss the issue more intensively in future.
The two sides agreed to jointly develop an action plan within a year and work out a follow-up mechanism to implement the Framework of Cooperation, which was finalised at the Foreign Ministers’ meeting along with the Delhi Declaration.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put it, both documents would provide the blueprint for India-Africa dialogue and engagement in the 21st century.
Several African Presidents, including John Kufour (Ghana), Maitre Abdoulaye Wade (Senegal) and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Uganda), and Goodluck Jonathan (Nigerian Vice-President) referred to the need for a follow-up mechanism and setting up of precise targets.
On climate change, both sides fine-tuned their commonality of approach by pressing for the adaptation process to be adequately financed through additional resources and not from funds for development.
They regretted the “lack of demonstrable progress” by the developed countries on greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and emphasised the need for fair burden sharing in its mitigation.
On the World Trade Organisation – Doha Round of trade negotiations, the Declaration pointed out that agriculture has to be the key for its successful conclusion and insisted that any acceptable agreement must incorporate the elements of livelihood, food security and rural development. Any outcome must also reduce the domestic support and subsidies provided by developing countries.
The Declaration rejected the efforts by developed countries to set deadlines for conclusion of the WTO-Doha Round and reiterated the demand that development must be the overriding consideration.
“We are convinced that the process to be adopted to reach convergence in the WTO negotiations requires focus on content and not artificial timelines. The promise of a development round must be fully realised,” it noted.
The issue of reforming the Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank, IMF etc.) also saw the two sides calling for giving developing countries an effective voice and voting rights to enhance their legitimacy and credibility.
The Declaration invoked the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan `88 and the African Pelindaba Treaty to renew the commitment to non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons.
This should begin with specific steps to reduce and finally eliminate nuclear weapons. It also agreed to make concerted efforts for speedily finalising a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the U.N.
The 12-page Africa-India Framework for Cooperation spelt out in detail the various areas of cooperation that include economic, political and science & technology.
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