India, Africa cannot be excluded from security council: Sushma Swaraj

She said on development partnerships India has granted 9 billion for various developmental and capacity building projects and has implemented a total of 140 projects in 40 African countries.

As the ministerial session continued Minister of State General V K Singh inaugurated #IAFS Business Exhibition.

India on Tuesday made a robust pitch for early reforms of the United Nations Security Council earlier than a gathering of Africa’s leaders, saying each India and and Africa cannot be excluded from their “rightful place” in the world physique.

How can we expect legitimacy from a structure that excludes the African continent and a country representing 1/6th of humanity.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday called on Africa to join hands with India to put in place more democratic global governance structures as she demanded the inclusion of India and representatives of Africa in a revamped UN Security Council.

He said the Zimbabwean minister referred to agriculture and education as areas of priority and “we responded positively to that”, while the Malawian minister requested more scholarships and technical assistance in leather sector.

“We look forward to working together in an active negotiating process to take this forward”, she said.

“The menace of non-state actors and cross-border terrorism has acquired a brand new dimension. The scale of this challenge is huge and undermines the peace and stability in our countries, which is essential for our development efforts”, he said.

“We also hope that the global community will cooperate with urgency to adopt the Comprehensive Convention against worldwide Terrorism”, she said.

A few nations in Africa are additionally countering threats of violence from native and worldwide extremist outfits.

In a reference to African countries sourcing cheap Indian generics to combat diseases like HIV/AIDS, Swaraj said: “Ensuring access to affordable and quality medicines and treatment is an important area of our cooperation”.

Africa, the “cradle of human civilization” and India, the “ancient civilization” – both have their uniqueness and at the same time similarities in: historical experiences, goals, visions and hurdles. We are very happy to note the intensification of India-Africa economic engagement in recent years. We now know what works and what doesn’t. “So far, almost 60 projects have been completed”, she said.