Economic Transformation through South-South Cooperation: China and India in Sub Saharan Africa

Africa is said to be the continent of the future. Sub Saharan Africa remains the heartland for resources and manpower in Africa, and, if the future belongs to the African continent, Global South- South cooperation in Africa holds a lot of potential. However, this potential remains under-utilized as the harbingers of this growth story, India and China are seen in a constant tussle. In international community, India and China realise that their roles are more than just economic trade and cooperation. Africa is also the battleground of social, economic and political ideologies and resultant turmoil. In such a tempestuous situation, both India and China have put in significant efforts to make situations better in the continent. In absolute terms Chinese trade with Sub-Saharan African countries is definitely higher but in the terms of a qualitative analysis India strives towards creating relationships which are sustainable, long lasting as well as mutually beneficial. This paper presents an analysis of India's and China's attempts to engage African countries especially Sub-Saharan Africa for a better cooperation framework, as well as, for dealing with challenges which are related to both land and the seas. The central argument of this paper is that India and China are not in a zero sum game in Sub-Saharan Africa rather they are in a Win-Win situation where the win-set of India and China are actually in a compatible relationship. Where, Africa stands to gain economically from the Chinese counterparts, it also stands to gain socially and politically from the largest democracy in the world only if the Sub-Saharan Africa has functional policies in place that enhance economic reform, institutional capacity development, infrastructural development, global partnerships and economic sustainability.

Keywords:
Economic Transformation, South-South Cooperation, India, China, Sub-Saharan Africa