Zafar Khurshid talks about attending Africa Day 2024 event and what he envisages for the future of Africa – India cooperation.
Zafar Khurshid (Intellectual Property LLM, 2013) is a Senior Partner and Co-Founder of TKC Partners LLP based in New Delhi, India. Zafar speaks about his attendance at the event: “I recently had the enviable opportunity to attend an event in honour of Africa Day 2024 in New Delhi, which commemorates the foundation of the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union).
The evening was hosted by His Excellency Mr. Ermindo Augusto Ferreira, High Commissioner of the Republic of Mozambique and His Excellency Mr. Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam, Ambassador of Eritrea to India, with remarks from H.E. Mrs. Jacqueline Mukangira, High Commissioner of Rwanda to India, and H.E. Cedrick C. Crowley, Dy. High Commissioner to South Africa, and a special address from the Chief Guest Dr. S. Jaishankar, the Honourable Minister for External Affairs, Government of India.
The entire evening was wonderfully curated to showcase the sounds, tastes, and spirit of India and various African Nations, including colourful performances by youth groups from India and Mozambique, dinner featuring delicacies from both Africa and India, and of course attendees who were delighted at the opportunity to show case their traditional garbs/dress.
But more than a simple joyous celebration, the evening marked and recognised the time-honoured friendship between India and the African Continent, particularly during the recent devastating Covid-19 global pandemic, and with a very significant benchmark in 2023 when India played a key role in supporting a permanent membership for the African Union (AU) in the G20. In the last decade or so India’s trade with Africa has grown from 68.5 Billion USD to 90.5 Billion, making India one of the top 5 investors in Africa.
Africa is a top-priority as part of India’s long-term foreign policy, and rightly so. As a fellow Developing Nations, and partners in the Global South, India and the Africa Union have enjoyed a close friendship recently, and there continues to be tremendous untapped potential for future cooperation and mutual growth. Both sides need to focus on sustaining recent trends and ensuring more diversity of investment, apart from the traditional areas like pharmaceuticals, education, and agriculture.
As part of a law firm in India that regularly advises clients in India and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Region, I anticipate that growing cooperation between India and Africa will bring welcome opportunities for cross-border collaborations within the legal sector, hand-in-hand with growing investments by India into African infrastructure and industry. Such cooperation means improving standards and capacities in cross-border advisory between law firms and practitioners, and a greater joint commitment towards fostering Dispute Resolution Centres in the Global South that can compete with the traditional focus towards the West for the resolution of International Commercial Disputes/Arbitrations.”