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Saturday, 13 June 2015

Know India's foreign policy - Part X

Nigeria

Main article: India–Nigeria relations
NigeriaIndia
India has close relations with this oil rich West African country. Twenty percent of India's crude oil needs are met, by Nigeria. 40,000 barrels per day (6,400 m3/d) of oil, is the amount of oil, that India receives from Nigeria. Trade, between these two countries stands at $875 million in 2005–2006. Indian companies have also invested in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, iron ore, steel, information technology, and communications, amongst other things. Both India and Nigeria, are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, G-77, and the Non Aligned Movement. Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjowas the guest of honour, at the Republic Day parade, in 1999, and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visited Nigeria in 2007, and addressed the Nigerian Parliament.

Rwanda

Main article: India-Rwanda relations
RwandaIndia
Indo-Rwandan relations are the foreign relations between the Republic of Indiaand the Republic of Rwanda. India is represented in Rwanda through its Honorary Consulate in Kigali. Rwanda has been operating its Embassy in New Delhi since 1998 and appointed its first resident Ambassador in 2001.[385]

Seychelles

SeychellesIndia
India–Seychelles relations are bilateral relations between the Republic of Indiaand the Republic of Seychelles. India has a High Commission in Victoria while Seychelles maintains a High Commission in New Delhi.[386]

South Africa

Main article: India–South Africa relations
South AfricaIndia
A meeting of G5 leaders in Berlin, Germany. From left to right: Manmohan Singh of India, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Felipe Calderón of Mexico, Hu Jintao of China and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
India and South Africa, have always had strong relations even though India revoked diplomatic relations in protest to the apartheid regime in the mid 20th century. The history of British rule connects both lands. There is a large group of South Africans of Indian descent. Mahatma Gandhi, spent many years in South Africa, during which time, he fought for the rights of the ethnic Indians. Nelson Mandela was inspired by Gandhi. After India's independence, India strongly condemned apartheid, and refused diplomatic relations while apartheid was conducted as state policy in South Africa.
The two countries, now have close economic, political, and sports relations. Trade between the two countries grew from $3 million in 1992–1993 to $4 billion in 2005–2006, and aim to reach trade of $12 billion by 2010. One third of India's imports from South Africa is gold bullion. Diamonds, that are mined from South Africa, are polished in India. Nelson Mandela was awarded theGandhi Peace Prize. The two countries are also members of the IBSA Dialogue Forum, with Brazil. India hopes to get large amounts of uranium, from resource rich South Africa, for India's growing civilian nuclear energy sector.

Mozambique

MozambiqueIndia
Main article: India–Mozambique relations
India has a high commissioner inMaputo[387] and Mozambique has a high commissioner in New Delhi.

South Sudan

Main article: India–South Sudan relations
South SudanIndia
India recognised South Sudan on 10 July 2011, a day after South Sudan became an independent state. At the moment relations are primarily economic. Pramit Pal Chaudhuri wrote in the Hindustan Times that South Sudan "has other[clarification needed] attractions. As the Indian Foreign Ministry's own literature notes, South Sudan [is] 'reported to has (sic) some of the largest oil reserves in Africa outside Nigeria and Angola.'"[388] An article in the The Telegraph read that South Sudan is "one of the poorest [countries] in the world, [but] is oil rich. Foreign ministry officials said New Delhi has [a] keen interest in increasing its investments in the oil fields in South Sudan, which now owns over two-thirds of the erstwhile united Sudan's oil fields."[389]
In return for the oil resources that can be provided by South Sudan, India said it was willing to assist in developing infrastructure, training officials in health, education and rural development. "We have compiled a definite road map using (sic) which India can help South Sudan."[390]

Sudan

SudanIndia
Indo-Sudanese relations have always been characterised as longstanding, close, and friendly, even since the early development stages of their countries.At the time of Indian independence, Sudan had contributed 70,000 pounds, which was used to build part of the National Defence Academy in Pune. The main building of NDA is called Sudan Block. The two nations established diplomatic relations shortly after India became known as one of the first Asian countries to recognise the newly independent African country. India and Sudan also share geographic and historical similarities, as well as economic interests. Both countries areformer British colonies, and remotely border Saudi Arabia by means of a body of water. India and Sudan continue to have cordial relations, despite issues such as India's close relationship with Israel, India's solidarity with Egypt over border issues with Sudan, and Sudan's intimate bonds with Pakistan and Bangladesh. India had also contributed some troops as United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Uganda

UgandaIndia
Main article: India-Uganda relations
India and Uganda establisheddiplomatic relations in 1965 and each maintain a High Commission in the other's capital. The Indian High Commission in Kampala has concurrent accreditation to Burundi and Rwanda. Uganda hosts a large Indian community and India–Uganda relations cover a broad range of sectors including political, economic, commercial, cultural and scientific cooperation.[391]
Relations between India and Uganda began with the arrival of over 30,000 Indians in Uganda in the 19th century who were brought there to construct theMombasa–Kampala railway line. Ugandan independence activists were inspired in their struggle for Ugandan independence by the success of theIndian freedom struggle and were also supported in their struggle by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.[392][393] Indo-Ugandan relations have been good since Uganda's independence except during the regime of Idi Amin. Amin in 1972 expelled over 55,000 people of Indian origin and 5,000 Indians who had largely formed the commercial and economic backbone of the country accusing them of exploiting native Ugandans.[393][394] Since the mid-1980s when President Yoweri Musevenicame to power, relations have steadily improved. Today some 20,000 Indians and PIOs live or work in Uganda.[393]Ethnic tensions between Indians and Ugandans have been a recurring issue in bilateral relations given the role of Indians in the Ugandan economy.[395][396]

International organisations

India participates in the following international organisations:[397]

India and the Commonwealth of Nations

India became independent within the British Commonwealth in August 1947 as the Dominion of India after thepartition of India into India and theDominion of Pakistan. King George VI, the last Emperor of India became theKing of India with the Governor-General of India as his viceregal representative.
India became the very firstCommonwealth republic on 26 January 1950, as a result of the London Declaration.

Non-Aligned Movement

Main article: India and the Non-Aligned Movement
India played an important role in the multilateral movements of colonies and newly independent countries that developed into the Non-Aligned Movement.
Nonalignment had its origins in India'scolonial experience and the nonviolentIndian independence struggle led by theCongress, which left India determined to be the master of its fate in an international system dominated politically by Cold War alliances and economically by Western capitalism and Soviet communism. The principles of nonalignment, as articulated by Nehru and his successors, were preservation of India's freedom of action internationally through refusal to align India with any bloc or alliance, particularly those led by the United States or the Soviet Union; nonviolence and international cooperation as a means of settling international disputes. Nonalignment was a consistent feature of Indian foreign policy by the late 1940s and enjoyed strong, almost unquestioning support among the Indian elite.
The term "Non-Alignment" was coined by V K Menon in his speech at UN in 1953 which was later used by Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru during his speech in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In this speech, Nehru described the five pillars to be used as a guide forSino-Indian relations, which were first put forth by PRC Premier Zhou Enlai. Called Panchsheel (five restraints), these principles would later serve as the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. The five principles were:
  1. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty
  2. Mutual non-aggression
  3. Mutual non-interference in domestic affairs
  4. Equality and mutual benefit
  5. Peaceful co-existence
Jawaharlal Nehru's concept of nonalignment brought India considerable international prestige among newly independent states that shared India's concerns about the military confrontation between thesuperpowers and the influence of the former colonial powers. New Delhi used nonalignment to establish a significant role for itself as a leader of the newly independent world in such multilateral organisations as the United Nations(UN) and the Nonaligned Movement. The signing of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation between India and the Soviet Union in 1971 and India's involvement in the internal affairs of its smaller neighbours in the 1970s and 1980s tarnished New Delhi's image as a nonaligned nation and led some observers to note that in practice, nonalignment applied only to India's relations with countries outside South Asia.
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