"India, Africa have strong relationship": Mozambique envoy Ermindo Augusto Ferreira

New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): Mozambique's Ambassador to India and the Dean of African Heads of Missions, Ermindo Augusto Ferreira, has described ties between Africa and India as "special and strong." He also called India a "good friend" of Africa and emphasised that together they can do things that can benefit the people.
Speaking to ANI, Mozambique's envoy expressed happiness over External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's participation in the Africa Day celebrations.
On Africa Day celebrations here in Delhi on Wednesday, he said, "We are really very happy that Dr S Jaishankar, the Minister of External Affairs of the government of India, came and graced the occasion. It's a big honour for us. This is a very auspicious occasion for all of us. We have always to remember those who, since the inception of the organisation it were African."
"The African Union up today, they have set the tone for part of the development and between Africa and India, we have a very strong relationship. It's a very special partnership, whereby there is a clear agenda for development, a clear cooperation which also enable us within the South-South cooperation so that we in Africa, we can benefit from the support and help of India in certain areas of development. India is a very good friend of Africa, always with Africa,...We have this strong belief that together we can do things which at the end will benefit our people," he added.
Jaishankar participated in Africa Day 2025 celebrations in Delhi on Wednesday. He described the relationship, connect, and empathy between India and Africa as "truly special" and expressed India's commitment to the development of Africa.
Ermindo Augusto Ferreira emphasised that people from Africa have suffered a lot due to colonialism, slavery, which has impacted negatively in Africa negatively, and called for changing the narrative.
About the theme of Africa Day 2025, he said, "We are talking about repression. I mean throughout those people from Africa, we have suffered a lot, colonialism, slavery, all this has impacted negatively in Africa, and we have to recognise that this is the time that we have to bring about Africa so that we can be in position to compete also globally, to be in position to decide about our own destiny and also to be in position to develop our country using our own resources."
"So, we at this stage we realise that the past impacted on us and we have to change this narrative and we hope that with this development international arena that Africa can find the way within very close countries which support Africa that we can together joint effort and try to strive together for development of the continent. We have very huge markets. We are talking about 1.4 billion people, so it's a very huge market and it has a lot of potential, a lot of resources which can be used just to improve the living standards of our people in the continent," he added.
He condemned terrorism and called for unity in fighting against terrorism. He said that Africa strongly condemns any kind of terrorist act.
When asked about the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam and India's Operation Sindoor, he responded, "I mean we have to condemn in a very strong manner the terrorism. This manner of terrorism has to be combated. It has no borders, no geography, so we have to be united as countries to fight against terrorism because it is against development, it is against the development of people. So we strongly believe and we strongly condemn any kind of terrorist acts, and we also believe that within the countries that we have to struggle together, we have to fight these heinous crimes which are committed by this terrorism."
As many as 26 people were killed and several others were injured in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, eliminating over 100 terrorists affiliated with Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. (ANI)