New Delhi is set to host the 4th India-Africa Forum Summit on 31 May, aiming to energise relations with the continent after a decade-long gap caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The last summit was held in 2015. Senior officials will meet on 28 May, followed by a gathering of foreign ministers on 29 May. The leaders’ summit on 31 May will be followed by a high-profile Big Cat Alliance meeting on 1 June, involving several African nations.Sources in New Delhi say India has invited all African countries and expects strong participation from African leaders. A “forward-looking” outcome document is under discussion, with officials promising “concrete outcomes that matter to Africa”.“Outcomes that respond to Africa’s interests will be announced,” a source said. “We are confident of good participation.” Ties between India and Africa are rooted in a shared “civilizational compact”, officials emphasise.Thirty-nine African countries have already joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA), while cooperation on digital public infrastructure (DPI) is expanding, India has framework agreements with seven nations.Agriculture, education and food security are expected to feature prominently. India is home to over 7,000 Zimbabwean students, and knowledge-sharing initiatives are growing. Capacity building and food security form key pillars of the agenda.Trade and investment will remain central. “Trade and investment will remain an important pillar of ties,” sources said, noting India’s engagement with African customs unions. The Indian Commerce Secretary recently visited Kenya and Tanzania.“If we can partner with Africa, our companies can engage with them, it will be win-win,” one official added. India has adopted a “consultative, demand-driven” approach.In the past decade, there have been about 50 high-level visits from India to Africa and nearly 100 from Africa to India. New Delhi now has 46 diplomatic missions across the continent, 17 of them opened in recent years, and offers duty-free market access to many African nations.Defence and security ties are deepening. India contributes around 5,000 UN peacekeepers in Africa, collaborates on critical minerals, and has growing defence exports to the continent. Energy security, maritime cooperation and countering piracy are also high on the agenda.Think tank dialogues and an India-Africa Film Festival will run alongside the summit, adding soft-power dimensions. Officials describe the relationship as substantive and future-oriented. “We are looking at India-Africa ties in a substantive manner,” a source said, highlighting that the summit aims to deliver tangible results rather than mere declarations.

Agriculture, education and food security are expected to feature prominently. India is home to over 7,000 Zimbabwean students, and knowledge-sharing initiatives are growing. Capacity building and food security form key pillars of the agenda.

New Delhi is set to host the 4th India-Africa Forum Summit on 31 May, aiming to energise relations with the continent after a decade-long gap caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The last summit was held in 2015. Senior officials will meet on 28 May, followed by a gathering of foreign ministers on 29 May. The leaders’ summit on 31 May will be followed by a high-profile Big Cat Alliance meeting on 1 June, involving several African nations. Sources in New Delhi say India has invited all African countries and expects strong participation from African leaders. A “forward-looking” outcome document is under discussion, with officials promising “concrete outcomes that matter to Africa”. “Outcomes that respond to Africa’s interests will be announced,” a source said. “We are confident of good participation.” Ties between India and Africa are rooted in a shared “civilizational compact”, officials emphasise. Thirty-nine African countries have already joined the International Solar Alliance (ISA), while cooperation on digital public infrastructure (DPI) is expanding, India has framework agreements with seven nations. Agriculture, education and food security are expected to feature prominently. India is home to over 7,000 Zimbabwean students, and knowledge-sharing initiatives are growing. Capacity building and food security form key pillars of the agenda. Trade and investment will remain central. “Trade and investment will remain an important pillar of ties,” sources said, noting India’s engagement with African customs unions. The Indian Commerce Secretary recently visited Kenya and Tanzania. “If we can partner with Africa, our companies can engage with them, it will be win-win,” one official added. India has adopted a “consultative, demand-driven” approach. In the past decade, there have been about 50 high-level visits from India to Africa and nearly 100 from Africa to India. New Delhi now has 46 diplomatic missions across the continent, 17 of them opened in recent years, and offers duty-free market access to many African nations. Defence and security ties are deepening. India contributes around 5,000 UN peacekeepers in Africa, collaborates on critical minerals, and has growing defence exports to the continent. Energy security, maritime cooperation and countering piracy are also high on the agenda. Think tank dialogues and an India-Africa Film Festival will run alongside the summit, adding soft-power dimensions. Officials describe the relationship as substantive and future-oriented. “We are looking at India-Africa ties in a substantive manner,” a source said, highlighting that the summit aims to deliver tangible results rather than mere declarations.

Agriculture, education and food security are expected to feature prominently. India is home to over 7,000 Zimbabwean students, and knowledge-sharing initiatives are growing. Capacity building and food security form key pillars of the agenda.

India-Africa Summit 2026: New Delhi pushes ‘Concrete Outcomes’ to deepen ties with continent

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Ethiopia next week, marking the first trip by an Indian leader to the Horn of Africa nation in more than a decade and underscoring New Delhi’s renewed push to deepen ties with the continent. The Indian leader is likely to arrive in Addis Ababa on 16 December and stay until the 17th, as part of a three-nation tour that also takes in Jordan (15-16 December) and Oman (17-18 December). The last Indian prime minister to visit Ethiopia was Manmohan Singh in 2011.In the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, he will hold talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who played a key role in ending border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. The two leaders last met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in 2023, when they discussed expanding cooperation in trade, investment, defence, information technology, agriculture, youth skilling and people-to-people contacts.Mr Abiy has also participated in various editions of India’s Voice of the Global South Summit, the inaugural leaders’ session in November 2023 and the third summit in August 2024, reflecting warming political ties. Both countries are now members of the expanded BRICS grouping, and the upcoming visit could help revive momentum for the long-delayed fourth India-Africa Forum Summit. The last such summit took place in Delhi in 2015, and before that in Ethiopia itself (2011). The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa.India and Ethiopia have a robust development partnership rooted in South-South cooperation. Addis Ababa is one of the largest recipients of Indian concessional lines of credit on the continent, with projects spanning railways, sugar factories and power transmission. Capacity-building programmes under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scheme have trained thousands of Ethiopian officials and professionals.Along with Ethiopia, PM Modi will travel to Oman, his second visit after 2018, and Jordan, where he will undertake his first full bilateral trip, having only made a brief transit stop in Amman in 2018 en route to Palestine. The whirlwind West Asia leg highlights India’s growing strategic and energy interests in the Gulf and Levant at a time of heightened regional tensions.

In the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, he will hold talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who played a key role in ending border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Ethiopia next week, marking the first trip by an Indian leader to the Horn of Africa nation in more than a decade and underscoring New Delhi’s renewed push to deepen ties with the continent. The Indian leader is likely to arrive in Addis Ababa on 16 December and stay until the 17th, as part of a three-nation tour that also takes in Jordan (15-16 December) and Oman (17-18 December). The last Indian prime minister to visit Ethiopia was Manmohan Singh in 2011. In the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, he will hold talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who played a key role in ending border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. The two leaders last met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in 2023, when they discussed expanding cooperation in trade, investment, defence, information technology, agriculture, youth skilling and people-to-people contacts. Mr Abiy has also participated in various editions of India’s Voice of the Global South Summit, the inaugural leaders’ session in November 2023 and the third summit in August 2024, reflecting warming political ties. Both countries are now members of the expanded BRICS grouping, and the upcoming visit could help revive momentum for the long-delayed fourth India-Africa Forum Summit. The last such summit took place in Delhi in 2015, and before that in Ethiopia itself (2011). The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa. India and Ethiopia have a robust development partnership rooted in South-South cooperation. Addis Ababa is one of the largest recipients of Indian concessional lines of credit on the continent, with projects spanning railways, sugar factories and power transmission. Capacity-building programmes under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scheme have trained thousands of Ethiopian officials and professionals. Along with Ethiopia, PM Modi will travel to Oman, his second visit after 2018, and Jordan, where he will undertake his first full bilateral trip, having only made a brief transit stop in Amman in 2018 en route to Palestine. The whirlwind West Asia leg highlights India’s growing strategic and energy interests in the Gulf and Levant at a time of heightened regional tensions.

In the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, he will hold talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who played a key role in ending border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.

Indian PM Modi to visit Ethiopia next week; focus on development partnership, stronger Africa ties

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India-Africa Summit 2026: New Delhi pushes ‘Concrete Outcomes’ to deepen ties with continent

Indian PM Modi to visit Ethiopia next week; focus on stronger Africa ties