The third India-Africa Forum summit was held in New Delhi from Oct. 26 to 29, with 41 of 54 Africa's heads of government or state (and officials from the other 13) attending the last two days.
This was the largest diplomatic event in India since the 1983 Nonaligned Movement summit in New Delhi, when around 100 leaders were hosted by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The India-Africa summit was among the largest gatherings of African leaders in a foreign country, eclipsing the 35 leaders who went to Beijing in November 2006 for the third ministerial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that was elevated to a summit; and matching the number who attended the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama.
The New Delhi summit of African leaders marks the continuing rise of India, its search for African markets and resources, and its late and relatively modest competition with the other two Asian giants China and Japan. For example TICAD is co-organized with the U.N. Development Program and the U.N. Office of the Special Adviser on Africa. Both U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong-kim attended TICAD V, during which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a five-year $32 billion package to support infrastructure development and boost economic growth in Africa.
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