New Delhi, April 7 – South Africa’s High Commissioner to India, Professor Anil Sooklal, views the upcoming India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) as an opportunity to strengthen his country’s economic ties with India across the pharmaceutical, green energy, IT, and agricultural sectors.
"The summit aims to explore how relations between the African continent and India can be intensified, expanded, and maximized," Sooklal said in an interview published in the Independent Online (IOL) news portal.
He pointed out that India is a global pharmaceutical hub, with many of its companies operating extensively across the African continent, including South Africa.
"I believe the decision by the African Union to have South Africa as the pharmaceutical hub of the African continent provides us with an opportunity to partner with India in this sector," he observed.
He said that green energy is another potential area for cooperation, as India, along with France, founded the International Solar Alliance. The country has made significant progress in solar, wind, and hydrogen as part of its green energy campaign, and these are areas that South Africa and the African continent are also focusing on.
"They (India) are also engaged in a massive green energy drive. India, along with France, founded the International Solar Alliance. There is a strong focus on solar energy, wind energy, and green hydrogen," Sooklal said.
"We are already partnering with India on the energy front, but I believe we can do much more, especially in green energy," he remarked.
On the industrial front, Sooklal noted that India’s Mahindra& Mahindra has an assembly plant in South Africa, but his government is keen that the Indian tractor maker sets up a manufacturing plant in the country.
He said that there are many synergies and complementarities between India and Africa on the trade front.
"We are rapidly industrializing on the African continent. We are focusing on new technologies and digital commerce. All of these are major strengths of the Indian economy. India is a major player in the digital sector, and I believe that both on the trade and investment side, both sides have much to gain in intensifying and deepening this relationship," the envoy maintained.
Sooklal noted India’s success with digital public infrastructure (DPI), which lifted over 250 million people out of poverty in a decade, reducing abject poverty to under 5 per cent. He believes Africa can achieve similar results.
He also highlighted the contrast in agriculture. India, with nearly 1.5 billion people, is self-sufficient in food production, while Africa is not, despite having the largest tract of arable land globally.
Similarly, he sees a lot of scope for South Africa to develop its ports and highways sectors in partnership with India, which has developed its infrastructure on a massive scale.
