Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) Against the backdrop of growing Chinese influence in Africa, India and Japan have held a third round of dialogue that focused on cooperation in spurring the continent’s development and seeking the support of African countries for pushing the UN reforms.

India and Japan held the third round of dialogue on Africa in Tokyo Nov 24-25.

Gurjit Singh, additional secretary in charge of east and south Africa in the external affairs ministry held wide-ranging talks with the Japanese side, led by Sumio Kusaka, director general for African Affairs in Japanese’s ministry of foreign affairs and personal representative of the prime minister for Africa.

During the delegation-level discussions, the two sides shared notes on their respective cooperation with the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of Africa.

They discussed economic cooperation with select African countries, issues of mutual political interest, including regional affairs in Africa, UN security council reforms and impact on Africa of major political developments in the region.

“India and Japan also explored avenues of mutual cooperation for contributing to Africa’s socio-economic development, peace and security,” the external affairs ministry said here Monday.

To carry forward this cooperation, the Indian delegation also held meetings with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

Japan, which has its own mechanism for cooperation with Africa, has been drawn by the cost-effective and transformational model of India’s engagement with Africa that hinges on trade, technology transfer, human resource development and lines of credit for African-owned infrastructure projects.

The two countries held their maiden dialogue in October last year on exploring cooperation in Africa which focused on sharing experiences of working in Africa, specially in areas of developmental cooperation.

India and Japan, part of the G4 grouping that also includes Germany and Brazil, are pitching for a permanent seat in a reformed UN Security Council. The support of 54-country African continent is critical to the success of the UN Security Council reforms.