Emphasising over development assistance to needy countries India pitched for deeper South-South cooperation including in Africa. Advocating for better donor-recipient relationship, seen as a subtle dig at China, India said it does not attach any conditionality and has always been respectful of sovereignty of the partner nations. India is virtually the largest donor to its neighbours and has a solidarity based approach. For India the greatest strength of the South-South cooperation has been its diversity of forms and flows. The core idea is to share best practices and lessons with other partner countries. For this reason, it cannot be and it should not be put in a box and judged according to the orthodox parameters of donor, recipient relationships. China has been involved in major infrastructure projects in various African countries. India has been engaged in capacity-building initiatives in the African continent with whom it shares a historical bonding. The neighbourhood first policy of the Modi government has boosted practical cooperation among the countries in a number of areas including connectivity, human resource development and institution building thus making India as the largest donor by far to virtually all neighbours. Highlighting India’s engagement in Africa, Modi had said, it is a partnership beyond strategic concerns and economic benefits. South-South cooperation is an important aspect of India’s foreign policy, especially its engagement with other development partners. There is a need for sustainable development instead of going for improvements in certain indicators. Unlike the partial list of objectives, merely seeking an improvement of some indicators, sustainable development goals seek transformation across the entire development landscape. The success of the transformation hinges on ensuring robust and inclusive economic growth, creation of infrastructure and jobs, ensuring access to modern energy. In this direction various initiatives of the government including Make in India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat campaign and smart cities have opened new opportunity to enhance development cooperation with India’s partner countries.
