Date:15/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/15/stories/2008071555170804.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

India and Africa

“India and the new scramble for Africa” by Jorge Heine (Op-Ed, July 14) was not only timely but also informative.

India should engage Africa in a much more active and innovative manner without committing the errors European nations made in the original scramble for Africa — blind and all-consuming greed and a fatal inability to understand a complex cultural environment.

The African continent is geographically larger than India but with a much smaller population. Indian industry would be well advised to view Africa not as a collection of individual countries but as a collection of regions. The dismantling of state control in practically all spheres of the economy in Africa and the development of the “knowledge / Internet” economy all over the world make this the right time for Indian industry to commit itself to a long-term economic involvement in Africa.

Vishwas Garg,

Visakhapatnam