The India-Africa Defence Dialogue (IADD) was held on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 18, 2022. The dialogue successfully brought out various aspects of the IADD’s theme ‘Adopting Strategy for Synergizing and Strengthening Defence and Security Cooperation’. Delivering the keynote address, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh defined the theme of IADD as the underlying commitment of India and African countries to explore new areas of convergence for defence engagements, including capacity building, training, cyber security, maritime security and counter terrorism. He termed India & African countries as important stakeholders in ensuring a safe and secure maritime environment, especially in the Indian Ocean Region. He pointed out that the two sides work together in many regional mechanisms, which foster inclusive and constructive collaboration in dealing with shared security concerns and address common challenges to peace and prosperity.
The IADD, as a part of DefExpo 2022, showcased to the African nations the growing prowess of the domestic defence industry, which is one of the major drivers of the nation’s resolve to achieve ‘Make in India, Make for the World’ as envisioned by the Prime Minister. This interaction is expected to help fulfilling the Defence requirements of our African partners as also achieving the objective of catering to our domestic requirements. A Special Cover on IADD and a book on ‘India-Africa Defence Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges’ were released during the event.
The IADD was institutionalised to be held biennially during successive DefExpos. It seeks to build on the existing defence partnerships between African countries & India and to explore new areas of convergence for mutual engagements including areas such as capacity building, training, cyber security, maritime security and counter-terrorism.
Emphasising that India & Africa share a multi-faceted defence and security cooperation relationship, Rajnath Singh reiterated India’s support to Africa to deal with challenges of conflict, terrorism and violent extremism. “India remains united with African countries in their quest for peace, security, stability, growth and prosperity. Our partnership with Africa is centered on the ten guiding principles articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to Parliament of Uganda in 2018. He had clearly stated that Africa will be at the top of our priorities.
Later, the Gandhinagar Declaration was adopted as an outcome document of IADD 2022. It proposes to enhance cooperation in the field of training in all areas of mutual interest by increasing training slots and deputation of training teams, empowerment and capability building of the defence forces of Africa, participation in exercises and humanitarian assistance during natural disasters. India offered fellowship for experts from African countries through Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis.
Fifty African countries, including 20 Defence Ministers, seven CDS/Service Chiefs and eight Permanent Secretaries participated in the Dialogue attesting to the high priority accorded to India-Africa engagement in defence and security. On the sidelines of the IADD, Rajnath Singh and MoS Defence Ajay Bhatt met with the visiting African Ministers where issues related to defence and bilateral relations were discussed.
