India's Modi pitches partnership of prosperity to Africa

Nov 03, 2015 During the recently held India-Africa summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned on the charm on African leaders as he proposed a broad alliance for global reform.

Modi urged India and Africa to forge a mutual alliance on global affairs, including reforms of the United Nations.

“This is a world of free nations and awakened aspirations. Our institutions cannot be representative of our world, if they do not give voice to Africa, which is more than a quarter of UN members, or the world’s largest democracy with one-sixth of humanity. That is why India and Africa must speak in one voice for reforms of the United Nations, including its Security Council,”

India, who is aspiring for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, is aiming to break out of a history of isolation and non-alignment to become a global player.

Prime Minister Modi went on to pledge $10 billion in new credit, in addition to $7.4 billion in soft loans.

“To add strength to our partnership, India will offer concessional credit of 10 billion U.S. dollars over the next five years. This will be in addition to our ongoing credit programme. We will also offer a grant assistance of 600 million U.S. dollars. This will include an India-Africa Development Fund of 100 million U.S. dollars and an India-Africa Health Fund of 10 million U.S. dollars,”