adminCletus Mushanawani in New Delhi, India
Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has described the just-ended India-Africa Forum Summit as highly successful, with Zimbabwe set to benefit from the $10 billion credit facility availed to Africa by the Asian country.
In an interview here yesterday, Minister Mumbengegwi said the country was set to benefit in many areas because of the good rapport created between President Mugabe and his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their bilateral talks held on Wednesday.
“President Mugabe and Prime Minister Modi had a very good meeting on Wednesday and as a country we stand to benefit from the $10 billion line of credit facility availed to Africa by India,” he said. “We have strong ties with India.
“We will be looking into areas of energy, agriculture and infrastructure development. Although money has been availed for the refurbishment of the Bulawayo Thermal Power Station through the Export-Import Bank of India, plans are also underway to ensure the refurbishment of the Harare Thermal Power Station.”
Minister Mumbengegwi said the credit facility would also cover education and health, which were placed on the list of priorities.
He added his voice on the calls for United Nations reforms to ensure an even playing field for all member States.
“We want to give the summit’s co-chairpersons, President Mugabe and Prime Minister Modi thumbs up for clearly articulating Africa and India’s positions on the United Nations reforms, especially the Security Council,” said Minister Mumbengegwi.
“We had a third of the world humanity which was meeting here and surely no-one can afford to ignore that. Yes, the question of UN Security Council reforms was raised and it took centre stage during the senior officials and ministers meetings. These reforms should be accelerated because we cannot continue living in the world of 70 years ago.
“Some countries that were viewed as more important than others have lost that clout. We now need a restructure of the entire United Nations governance system, especially the Security Council. Surely Africa, India and Brazil deserve to have seats in the Security Council. India and Africa should speak with one voice on this important issue because our positions are not different.”
On Morocco’s participation at the summit as the only non African Union member, Minister Mumbengegwi said the North African country was invited by India.
Morocco is condemned by most African countries for annexing Western Sahara or The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, a move which is viewed as continuation of colonialism in Africa by a fellow State.
“The issue of Morocco was a bit problematic because remember it was an India-Africa Summit, the same as the China-Africa Summit or the European-Africa Summit where only member States are expected to attend,” said Minister Mumbengegwi.
“We understand that Morocco enjoys good diplomatic relations with India, that is why it was invited. After being invited, Morocco insisted that Western Sahara should not attend and this led to the exclusion of the country.
“The issue of continuous colonialism in Africa generated a lot of debate and we spent quite a great deal of time on it. A single sentence reading: ‘Calling upon the end of colonialism in the world’ generated a lot of debate. Some countries objected saying it should be removed from our resolutions. The question of colonialism is fundamental and there is no way we can condone it.”
Online Reporter