Somewhere India has lost its plot with the African Union: Ambassador Gurjit Singh

A former Indian envoy to the African Union (AU) and a key thinker who conceptualized the series of meetings at the India-Africa Forum summit said India’s plans for the AU have not gone as planned and that New Delhi has “lost the plot” with the AU. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr Singh explained that over the past decade, India has favored bilateral exchanges at the government level in Africa, undermining ties with the powerful African Union.

His remarks came days after the fourth summit of the India-Africa Forum, scheduled for May 31, was canceled due to the Ebola outbreak in Africa. The same illness forced the one-year postponement of the third summit in 2014, which eventually took place in 2015 and was attended by all 54 African nations, including 41 heads of state. Ambassador Singh added that after 2015, India had focused more on bilateral relations with African states and therefore “India lost the conspiracy with the African Union”. While the ambassador agreed that bilateral relations were strong, he argued that by focusing primarily on bilateral engagement, India had not engaged with the regional economic communities and the AU, which were part of the three-tier structure built during the first two summits.

Although the summit was in principle moved to a five-yearly frequency after 2015, it never took place. The central government attributed the absence of the summit to COVID. According to Mr. Singh, however, the problem was not limited to “not missing the summit” but pulling the plug on intergovernmental relations with the AU, “India has been holding ministerial-level summits on health, education, trade and energy. Somehow we have stopped doing them. These arrangements were functional and valuable and should have continued.”

While India has strengthened its engagement with the AU in the recent past by inducting the AU into the G20 as a permanent member during India’s chairmanship in 2023, “but by then the AU calendar has filled up with new suitors,” adds Ambassador Singh.

“China does more, but India does better”

Among the emerging powers, apart from India, China has made major inroads into Africa. By 2023, the East Asian giant was the largest trading partner of 52 out of 54 African states. However, Ambassador Singh cautioned against measuring the success of India’s Africa policy against China.

“I don’t look at it as India versus China. Not one day that I’ve been running Africa policy have I asked what China is doing that we need to do. My approach has always been: what are we good at, what can we offer, let’s do it.” He further added that China’s model is extractive, in which it often pressures African governments to get their way. He mentions: “For example, the Chinese have built railways in Africa, but there are no English manuals to train local people. There is no subcontracting to African companies or capacity building in Chinese-led projects. Most of the workers are also Chinese nationals.”

On the other hand, Ambassador Singh points out that “India’s model is cooperative”. India focuses on human resource development, technology transfer and investment in small and medium enterprises. According to him, “India’s model has succeeded to the extent that today the G7 countries individually want to work with India in Africa for trilateral cooperation”.

According to the ambassador: “African leaders and governments recognize this difference. They said: China is doing more, but India is doing better.”

The Future of Indo-African Relations

Regarding the future of India-Africa relations, Ambassador Singh emphasized that India’s strength lies in its long-standing people-to-people ties, its diaspora, small and medium enterprises, education and development partnerships.

On joint projects, Ambassador Singh says, “We need to change our project model. Many past initiatives have failed because they were completely funded by India and the host country felt no responsibility. If the host country does not provide funds, do not walk away. First get that commitment and then fully support them. IIT Madras in Zanzibar is already built on this principle: local funding, Indian soft power.”

According to Ambassador Singh, the issue is no longer whether India and Africa fought together for non-alignment, decolonization and terrorism. “Africa today is transactional. What counts is simpler: how good was your last relationship with me?” supplies.

Published – 12 Jun 2026 10:29 IST