Jaishankar Hosts Dialogue with African Diplomats in Delhi to Strengthen South-South Cooperation
On 24 October 2026, India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar hosted a dialogue with African ambassadors at the Hyderabad House in Delhi. The general theme of the talks focused on South-South Cooperation (#SSC) in a multipolar world. As important members of the #GlobalSouth, India and African countries have the sovereign right to determine their destiny.
The Dialogue occurs after Jaishankar’s recent African tour to Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ethiopia. While in Addis Ababa, he had a meeting with the African Union Commission Chair Mahmoud Youssouf and convened a meeting of Indian ambassadors across Africa.
Firstly, Jaishankar recalled how India played a crucial role in integrating the African Union (AU) as a member of the G20. He also underlined the shared history of colonialism and the need for solidarity between countries in the #GlobalSouth to face unprecedented challenges. As developing nations, he believes that India and Africa should adopt a people-centric model.
For Fiscal Year 2025-2026, the India-Africa trade volume reached USD 103 billion, representing a stellar 26% year-on-year growth. The trade balance is slightly in favor of Africa, which exports mostly natural resources to India. The target is to reach USD 200 billion by 2030 by shifting trade from commodities to products. To redress the trade imbalance, India plans to export more affordable automobiles and pharmaceuticals to Africa.
As for investment, India accumulates about USD 80 billion of Foreign Direct Investment (#FDI) in Africa. India’s investments are currently driven by the #EnergyTransition and #FoodSecurity. In Africa, India is thus securing sources of #CriticalMinerals and chemical fertilizers. In addition, India has provided concessional credit totaling more than USD 12 billion, spread across 190 lines of credit to more than 40 African countries.
India has also created several initiatives to bolster the India-Africa economic partnership. In particular, the International Solar Alliance (#ISA) and Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) are supporting green energy projects. Then, India is in the process of deploying the FinTech-based Unified Payments Interface (#UPI) across Africa to facilitate trade settlements and other financial flows.
Both India and Africa continued the conversation regarding the 4th India-Africa Forum Summit (#IAFS), which had to be postponed due to health concerns. Jaishankar highlighted the strong resonance between India’s #ViksitBharat2047 and the African Union’s #Agenda2063. All sides agreed to raise the bar and widen the scope to include Digital Public Infrastructure (#DPI), #GreenEnergy, #FinTech, and innovation in general.