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2 - 3 December 2010, New Delhi

The proposed seminar will focus on:

- Indo-South African Political Relations: Historical Goodwill and Current Issues
- Indo-South African Economic Relations: Challenges of South-South Co-operation
- Indo-South African Strategic Relations: Strategic Partnership and Competing Interests
- Indo-South African Diaspora Relations: 150 Years of Indian Migration to South Africa

International Seminar on India and South Africa: Political, Economic, Strategic and Diaspora Relations
2 & 3 December 2010

Venue: Centre for African Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Concept Note

India and South Africa have long historical relationships: both were British colonies, a large number of Indians were taken to South Africa as indentured workers during the colonial period, and Karam Chand Gandhi was a common crusader against colonial and discriminatory regimes. It is said that South Africa gave Mahatma Gandhi to India, as it was only after returning from South Africa that Gandhi took an active role in the freedom struggle in India.

Since the establishment of a democratic South Africa in 1994, Indo-South African relations grew from the base of the sterling contribution an independent India made to the fight against apartheid.

Bilateral relations between the two countries have shown strong growth since 1994. Trade grew from a figure of US$3 million in 1992-93 to US$4 billion in 2005-06. Both countries have decided to increase bilateral trade to US$12 billion by 2014. Moreover, Indo-South African relations is not confined to bilateral relations alone, it also extends to India’s political, diplomatic, and economic interests in the southern African region, in the African continent as a whole, and under the framework of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) grouping. The IBSA Dialogue Forum was created to promote co-operation and to establish consensus on issues of trade, poverty alleviation, intellectual property rights, social development, agriculture, climate change, culture, defence, education, etc. Besides this, both countries have also established a co-operative relationship in the global context of restructuring and democratising the institutions of global governance like the UN, the WTO, the World Bank, the IMF, etc. This was the precursor to the India-South Africa strategic partnership signed at the Red Fort in New Delhi on the occasion of in the 50th anniversary of India’s independence. Thus, the Red Fort Declaration marks a new era in the strategic partnership between the two countries.

India and South Africa are littoral states to the Indian Ocean and thus are located in each other’s strategic neighbourhood. They have common, as well as competing, interests in the Indian Ocean region, around the Western Indian Ocean islands, across the sea lanes of communication, and in the threat of piracy in the northern part of the Indian Ocean. South Africa has welcomed the Indo-US nuclear deal and supported India in the nuclear supplier group, but both countries have different perspectives on the NPT and nuclear disarmament. Both countries are legitimate aspirants to permanent membership on the UN Security Council. India-South Africa strategic relationships reflect these complementarities and competing interests.

Among the various dimensions of Indo-South African relations, the most prominent is the fast-growing Indo-South African economic relations. Trade relations have grown exponentially over the last decade and a half, and bilateral trade was US$7.5 billion in 2009. For India, South Africa is not only a gateway to the SADC but to the entire African continent. It has also gained importance as a central hub for IBSA economic initiatives. Clearly, South Africa as an emerging economy also competes with India in several economic sectors; South Africa finds Indian economic influence undercutting South African interests in southern Africa and in the SADC. There has been a growing involvement of Indian multinationals in the South African economy and President Jacob Zuma’s largest ever delegation of South African CEOs on his state visit to India earlier in 2010, also including numerous CEOs of Indian origin, signifying the involvement of the Indian diaspora as a driver for Indo-South African co-operation.

The strength of the Indian diaspora in South Africa is more than a million; in fact, around half of the Indian diaspora in Africa is located in South Africa. It remains a strong heritage resource and represents the oldest cultural link between the two countries. People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are professionally and educationally important members of South African society and they, too, are facing the challenges of reconstruction and redistribution policies in the post-apartheid period. As the rest of Africa, South Africa and India are trying to use their diasporas, and the diaspora within, as a resource and a driver to promote economic linkages under globalisation, the PIOs in South Africa is a very important latent resource. The recently-held PBD Africa 2010 in Durban, sponsored by the government of India to commemorate 150 years of Indian migration to South Africa, and the intense and high-level participation by South African provincial and central government representatives, signals a clear move to build additional bridges between India and South Africa through diaspora linkages.

The proposed seminar will therefore focus on the following sub-themes, though it will not necessarily be confined to them:

- Indo-South African Political Relations: Historical Goodwill and Current Issues
- Indo-South African Economic Relations: Challenges of South-South Co-operation
- Indo-South African Strategic Relations: Strategic Partnership and Competing Interests
- Indo-South African Diaspora Relations: 150 Years of Indian Migration to South Africa

Please contact:

Prof Ajay Dubey at [email][email protected]

or

Prof Denis Venter at [email][email protected]