If India wants to engage with the “Global South” in a more meaningful way, it should recognize its Anglophone bias and consider developing relations with Portuguese-speaking countries and thus open one more front in its foreign policy.
Focusing on specific sectors, beyond the options much in vogue with offensive emulationists or passive singularists, will help India to clarify its priorities, optimize its policy-making process and infuse its Africa policy with greater strategic depth.
Ethnic tensions and political and economic corruption are rampant in Liberia, and dealing with these institutional problems is a monumental challenge for any outsider.
The India-Africa Forum Summit is an indication of the coming of age of India’s relations with African countries. While India’s relations with African countries are time tested and historical, nevertheless in recent years this affiliation has been revitalised. Booming trade is an indication of this change. Trade has grown from US$967 million in 1990-91 to $25 billion in 2006-07 (inclusive of oil imports). This transformed relationship is driven by a number of factors.
India is all set to woo Africa at the forthcoming India-Africa Summit on April 8, 2008 in New Delhi, reflecting the continent’s growing importance to Indian foreign policy in the 21st century. The Summit comes more than a year after China organised a similar event at Beijing in November 2006.
Portuguese-speaking countries: a new niche for Indian foreign policy?
If India wants to engage with the “Global South” in a more meaningful way, it should recognize its Anglophone bias and consider developing relations with Portuguese-speaking countries and thus open one more front in its foreign policy.