Speech H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud President of the Federal Republic of Somalia India-Africa Forum Summit New Delhi, India

Speech H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
President of the Federal Republic of Somalia
India-Africa Forum Summit
New Delhi, India

Your Excellency, The Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Narendra Modi,

Your Excellency, the Chairperson of the African Union, President Robert Mugabe,

Your Excellency, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African
Commission,

Your Majesties,

Excellencies, Heads of States and Government,

Honourable Ministers,

Distinguished delegates,

I am delighted and honored to participate in this distinguished third Summit between India and Africa. It is a privilege and an honour to be at this historical meeting between two ancient partners which between them have the fastest growing economies in the world. Our two sides relations are built on a deep heritage and culture of mutual respect, partnership and cooperation to seek a future of unlimited possibilities.

With growing populations and growing economies, India and Africa have no time and no excuses not to work ambitiously towards creating solid partnerships and cooperation opportunities based on mutual respect and common goals of prosperity and peace.

We have been actively developing our people, and fostering opportunities that will allow us to forge a new place in history: not of colonized nations, or fragile States, but as democratic nation states, deliberate about engaging the world, seizing opportunities for our people, our ideas and energetically claiming our future.

We must look to ourselves and each other and get on with giving our people the future they deserve.

We share common concerns of ensuring our youth the jobs and meaningful work opportunities that will keep them gainfully employed and positively contributing to society; we share the common concerns of feeding our populations sustainably without creating undue burden on our environments; we share the common concern of needing to rapidly develop infrastructure and manufacturing whilst contributing to the health of our planet; we share the common concern of ensuring free markets and mutually beneficial trade based on sound and healthy domestic economies.

Africa has much to learn from India. India has been able to lift millions of people out of poverty through industriousness and innovation. India creates products and services that are in demand from the rest of the world. Africa must learn from this.

Africa must move beyond dependence on development aid. We must stop taking, and start creating. As a continent, we must improve productivity, harness our creativity, use our location and demand innovation in the service of prosperity.

Today, India is using its progress to help reduce poverty in Africa and other places.

We all acknowledge that India has invested unprecedented resources in Africa.
This has had a positive impact on Africa’s sustainable development growth.

This has not just been achieved through the provision of aid and development funding as valuable as this is, but also through what might even be a more valuable to Africa in the long-term, the extending of education opportunities to African students to study in India. This gift of knowledge will be what provides a solid foundation for Africa’s growth in the future. A real example of India’s educational contribution to Africa is myself standing here in front of you as a graduate of an Indian University 27 years ago not as an ordinary student but a civil servant that was provided a public service.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

Today, India is more important and relevant than ever before as a provider of technical know-how and expertise to Africa, generating goodwill and substantive opportunities for cooperation through capacity building and investment in growing knowledge resources in Africa.

India has set a bright example to us all of what can be achieved when a population, led by competent and consistent governments sets its mind to change.

The future can only be bright. But we must acknowledge that it will not be without its challenges. Partnership, collaboration and pursuing mutual interests for the benefit of all must be at the heart of working together.

This year, the United Nations and its Member States laid out a development agenda for the next 15 years: the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals will never be achieved if nations and continents work in silos. In a globalized world, symbiotic relationships will be essential.

If we acknowledge that Africa has much to learn from India, then we must also acknowledge that Africa has much to offer in return. As a continent we offer unprecedented opportunities for investment, from infrastructure to agricultural to service industries to financial markets to trade and commodities.

Our long and strong history of involvement and engagement must set the tone for our future collaboration. Somalia is ready for this.

Somalia’s trade with India is once again on the rise and our Government will work in partnership within the India-Africa framework to further enhance this.

Somalia has a vibrant private sector which has always been the bedrock of our economic activities. Whilst our State may have infamously failed in the past, leading to difficult times, our country and our people never failed.

Somali entrepreneurs are flourishing, and our export markets are steadily growing – in livestock, agriculture and fisheries. Our service sector side, particularly in relation to money transfers and telecommunications is also growing.

Somalia’s investment opportunity is unprecedented. The country is opening up to external private investment. With the longest coastline in Africa, a growing young population, a geographic position as the bridge between Africa and Arabia and huge potential resources of oil, gas and other minerals – we are entering an opportunity renaissance.

Over the last three years, my government, with the support of the African Union Mission to Somalia has succeeded in liberating almost all of Somalia from violent extremists. We will offer no safe harbor to any brand of terrorism. There has also been no acts of piracy of the coast of Somalia for over two years. We stand for peace and stability in Africa and the wider world.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me conclude by thanking and congratulating Prime Minister Modi and the Government of India for their generous hospitality and their commitment to Africa.

I wish this Summit every success.

I am passionate about the future of Somalia. Somalia is committed to walking into that future with good friends like India by our side.

Thank You