Centre Director urges India to take small steps to make big impact in Africa
Amit Jain speaks at the Africa India Global Dialogue
The Director of the NTU-SBF Centre for African Studies Amit Jain has called upon India to open its skies for African airlines and relax visa and capital controls to make it easier for business to flourish. "Civil servants do not find opportunities. Businessmen do," he told participants at the Africa India Global Dialogue - a series of webinar organised jointly by the New Delhi based Centre for Social and Economic Progress (formerly Brookings India) and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD.
Amit Jain also brought to attention the remarkable role that India is playing in boosting Japanese investments in Africa.
The webinar was moderated by CSEP fellow Dr Veda Vaidyanathan. In response to her question on the role of middle powers such as Indonesia, Turkey and the UAE in Africa the Centre Director said that their influence is 'something of a mixed bag'. He explains why in the clip below.
He also explained why he believes the direct impact of the US tariffs on Africa will be far less acutely felt than in Asia even as he fears that a global trade shock will exacerbate the fiscal strain on African government budget and crimp social spending.
Watch the full webinar.
