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09 July, 2007
Addis Ababa, July 8: Seeking the backing of the African Union in its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, India has welcomed the efforts of the 53 countries of the continent to evolve a common polity on major international issues.
New Delhi, which has been working closely with the African Union and is looking forward for securing the 53-member bloc's support for its bid for a permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, is keeping a close watch on the developments that are unfolding in the continent.
"It is one of the major developments in international relations in the current millenium.... one of the major developments of the integration of sovereign nation states of the African continent to evolve a common polity. We welcome it," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here.
African leaders met in Ghana earlier this week to debate a grand plan mooted by Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi for establishing United States of Africa, a continental government, but failed to arrive at any decision after moderate countries managed to put on hold the proposal.
The summit, however, agreed to set up a committee of African Union ministers to study how the establishment of a federated African state stretching from the Cape to Cairo, under a single union government, would affect national sovereignties and existing regional economic blocs.
Mukherjee, who is on a four-day visit to Ethiopia, said India welcomed the "resurgence of Africa" as New Delhi has very close relations and linkages with the continent and is cooperating with each other.
"It is interesting how the things are unfolding. What African Union is going to have and what is the concept of United States of Africa and what I understand is that the process is still unfolding, discussions are still taking place and we are working with interest," he said during an interaction with Indian community members here on Thursday night.
India is also making its own contribution in the consultations and integration of countries in the African continent by participating in every regional economic fora in Africa, said Mukherjee, who became the first Indian foreign minister to visit the landlocked African country.
Mukherjee said the impression he got from the Ethiopian leadership during his talks with them was that "there are certain issues in which they (African countries) are likely to take a common approach" like environment, approach towards reforms of the UN, global trade negotiations.
"Some of these issues where the countries concerned are not taking their independent or individual views but they are trying to evolve a collective view which will represent the view of the continent as a whole," he said.
The minister, however, said there was a need for the countries in the continent to put their houses in order and also to harmonise their policies.