NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi will travel to Guyana and Nigeria next month, coinciding with his visit to Brazil where he will be participating in the G20 summit on November 18-19. This will be his first visit to both Guyana and Nigeria which are members of the Global South community.
While the visit to Nigeria will help underscore the importance India attaches to one of the largest countries in Africa in articulating the voice of the developing world on multilateral platforms like the UN, G77 and NAM, the visit to Guyana is important for India’s relations with CARICOM (Caribbean Community) that comprises 15 member-states and 5 associate members.
A CARICOM-India summit is likely to take place in capital Georgetown during Modi’s visit, according to diplomatic sources. Modi had first held a summit meeting with CARICOM leaders on the margins of the UNGA in New York in 2019 where he, according to the Indian government, reiterated India’s commitment to strengthen its political, economic and cultural engagement with CARICOM. He had then highlighted the presence of more than a million-strong Indian diaspora as a “vibrant and enduring link of friendship with the Caribbean”.
Modi had also announced $ 14 million grant for community development projects in the CARICOM and another $ 150 million Line of Credit for solar, renewable energy and climate- change related projects. He also announced the setting up of the Regional Center for Excellence in Information Technology in Georgetown, Guyana, according to a government statement issued after the meeting.
In the case of Nigeria, this will be the first visit by an Indian PM to the country since Manmohan Singh in 2007 when the 2 countries elevated the relationship to a strategic partnership. According to the MEA, the presence of a large Indian expatriate community of about 50,000, the largest in West Africa, adds value to the importance of the long-standing relationship. Modi is expected to discuss the possibility of hosting the India-Africa summit soon here.
India and Nigeria had in 2007 also signed an MoU for defence cooperation, an area they see as integral to their strategic partnership. In 2021, they also launched a strategic and counterterrorism dialogue at the level of NSAs. An Indian naval ship also visited Lagos in 2022 to conduct the first ever anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Guinea, according to the MEA.