March 2026 \ News \ FROM INTENT TO INDUSTRY
AFRICA FIRST - Corridors of Commitment

At Niryat Bhawan, AFRICA FIRST reframed India–Africa engagement from shared memory to structured delivery. The Second Edition will be announced shortly.

By Sayantan Chakravarty
Seen just before the commencement of the Plenary I (from left to right) Mr Sayantan Chakravarty, Conference Director, AFRICA FIRST and Editor in Chief, India Empire Magazine; Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Chief Guest and Former Union Minister of State for External Affairs; Mr Arvind Goenka, Regional Chairman (Northern Region), FIEO; Ambassador (retd) Mr Amarendra Khatua, Former Ambassador of India to Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, Prof. (Dr.) Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Vice Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), H.E. Mr. Ambassador Mohamed Maliki, Ambassador of the Embassy of The Kingdom of Morocco and Dean of African Diplomatic Corps, H.E. Mr. Isse Abdillahi Assoweh, Ambassador of the Republic of Djibouti to India

 

On a crisp February day at Niryat Bhawan in New Delhi, something more than a conference unfolded. AFRICA FIRST — the India–Africa Diplomatic & Business Conference convened by India Empire in collaboration with their Institutional Partner, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) — gathered not to rehearse historical friendship but to interrogate it.

If India and Africa share civilisational depth, political solidarity and expanding trade, why does implementation still lag aspiration? That question settled across the hall like a deliberate pause. By evening, the answer was unmistakable: sentiment must yield to systems.

The Strategic Compass

When Mr Sayantan Chakravarty, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of India Empire and Director of AFRICA FIRST, opened proceedings, he did not begin with GDP curves or sectoral slides. He began with memory.

Millions of years ago, Africa and India were part of the same landmass. The tectonic drift that separated them was geological. The separation that followed in the colonial era was political. Yet civilisational affinity endured, resurfacing in moments of shared resistance and moral alignment.

He recalled Mahatma Gandhi’s political awakening in South Africa, solidarities forged in anti-colonial struggles, and the ethical convergence that shaped independence movements across continents. But nostalgia was not his destination. Africa First, he insisted, is not a slogan. It is a declaration of respect and a demand for accountability.

With India–Africa trade crossing USD 100 billion and Indian investments exceeding USD 75 billion, the metrics are formidable. Yet numbers do not transform economies by themselves. Lines of Credit must convert into operating infrastructure. Partnership must translate into localisation. Technology transfer must culminate in autonomy.

Africa First, he declared, would not remain an annual dialogue. It would evolve into an execution platform — a disciplined bridge between diplomacy and delivery. The room understood that this was orientation, not ceremony.

“Africa First is not a slogan. It is a statement of respect.”




Tags: Africa

Comments.