Manmohan Singh being received by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikeweti (extreme right) with fanfare at the presidential palace in Dar-es-Salaam. (Sankarshan Thakur)

Dar-es-Salaam, May 27: The resplendent beach-front palace of President Jakaya Kikewete — peacocks sweeping terraced lawns, a red carpet flaming a furlong down from the parlour rooms to the wrought-grille gates — became the latest stage for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s build-Africa enterprise this afternoon.

A protocol on promoting small and medium industry and a deal to set up a $150-million super-speciality Apollo Hospital, which prompted the witty Kikewete to remark: “This will help us handle more serious ailments than malaria, which we can now handle on our own.”

Backstage — as the ceremonial signing proceeded — the Prime Minister’s mandarins counted what they called the “mounting gains” of the Africa visit, which wound down today.

“It has been our most significant Africa thrust,” said one, “The genuine intent shown by the Prime Minister and the response he has got are a tremendous boost to this partnership.”

But much as they would wish to downplay it, the China context refuses to depart from the India-Africa story. President Kikewete himself brought it up during his joint news conference with Prime Minister Singh with a mention of the hospital the Chinese had built in Dar-es-Salaam. He softened the blow a bit, though, by following it up with a plea to India to provide the medical expertise for it.

It was too good an opportunity for an Africa policy planner to let go. “This is precisely what we have been trying to say — we are very different from the Chinese. They are hardware people, we are investing in Africa’s human resource and capacity building, a decade down the line, Africa will remember India more for what we have given them.”

The emerging Indian strategy in Africa — already articulated by secretary (west) Vivek Katju repeatedly during this trip — is to build a web of Indian or India-aided institutions across Africa so it becomes the “steel-grid” of the continent. In the reckoning of South Block, Africa should have close to 90 such institutions over the coming decade.

“With the kind of goodwill advantage we already have over the Chinese, we shall have a well established presence if plans unroll as they are envisaged,” a diplomat on the Prime Minister’s delegation said, “This trip has ensured that Africa will increasingly become the new hub of Indian enterprise abroad. Africa is what will grow, the rest of the world is saturated.”

While both Prime Minister Singh and President Kikewete emphasised increased economic and political cooperation — Kikewete was unequivocal in backing India’s case for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council — concerns over terrorism and high-seas piracy also came up.

Tanzania, as India, has been a victim of both. One of the first major al Qaida strikes happened at the US embassy in Dar-es-Salaam in 1998; and of late, Tanzanian maritime trade has been bludgeoned by the aggress of Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. “Insurance for ships has become more expensive, vessels are having to take longer routes to avoid piracy, maritime trade is in danger, we have taken some measures but we must co-operate on more ways to tackle these threats,” President Kikewete said.

Prime Minister Singh, who had earlier likened the piracy enterprise working off the Somali coast as an “organised industry”, said, “We have very similar concerns in the area of peace and security. Terrorism and piracy are two major problems we both face. We have decided to intensify consultations and co-ordination to combat such threats.”

For all the dire tasks outlined by the summiteers, though, much merry fanfare surrounded this morning’s bilateral bonhomie at the Presidential Palace. Prime Minister Singh was escorted along a red carpet corridor lined with caparisoned Tanzanians waving the Tricolour and swinging to beats coming off gargantuan zebra-skin drums. The Prime Minister was taken enough to smile and afford photographers a rare opportunity.

That happened again towards the end when the dignitaries exchanged gifts. Prime Minister Singh was given an ornate family tree carved out of ebony; he gave President Kikewete a hexagonal marble table inlaid with Mughal motifs. “Very small,” President Kikewete remarked in jest, which prompted the Prime Minister to draw him to the inlay work. “Oh, but I know it is probably very precious,” President Kikewete conceded. And the Prime Minister bared a smile for a second time the same morning.