The stage is set for the third India Africa Forum Summit October 26-29 with a record participation of all the 54 countries of the continent, most of them represented by their heads of state or government - a high-profile event that will herald a new era in mutual partnership between two of the world's fastest growing regions.
This is perhaps the only time all the 54 African countries are coming together outside the continent for such a meeting. At least 40 countries are expected to be represented by their heads of state or government.
Seen as a major diplomatic initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, the event has evoked international interest given its scale and the efforts by countries such as China to strengthen with Africa in their scramble for resources.
It is the first time that an international summit of such scale is being held in India after the Non-Aligned Summit in 1983 - the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting the same year saw the participation of 42 countries - and the government has walked the last mile to ensure hassle-free arrangements with every aspect having being gone into in minute detail.
A tight layer of security has been thrown at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here, the main venue of the event, with key hotels of the capital city also under security cover.
The agenda includes a meeting of senior officials on October 26, followed by meeting of foreign ministers on October 27 and the summit on October 29. There will also be bilateral meetings, while President Pranab Mukherjee will host a grand banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on the evening of October 29.
The summit is expected to address key challenges including food, health and environment as well as deepen cooperation on maritime security and countering terrorism.
In a prelude to the tone of the summit, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday advocated reforms to the United Nations Security Council and pointed out that neither India with nearly one-sixth of the world's population nor the largest continent Africa in terms of number of countries were on board. She said the United Nations continued to be a "representative of the world order of 1945".
"A major issue in this context is that of UN Security Council reforms. The Security Council continues to be representative of a world order of 1945. It is inconceivable that the Security Council today does not have any permanent representation from Africa, which is the largest continent (in terms of number of countries)," Sushma Swaraj said while addressing the third India-Africa Editors' Forum meeting here.
She said it was also incomprehensible that India, which represents almost one-sixth of world's population and has all credentials to be a permanent member of the Security Council, was still out of it.
