As states line up to take their place at the country's biggest diplomatic event in 32 years - next week's India-Africa Forum Summit - a realisation is dawning on organisers of the summit, the ministry of external affairs, that Bengal ought to have the pride of place in any interaction with the African continent.

Bengal's tradition of welcoming African talent in sport - an area where that continent excels - has brought success for India in a walk of life where the country has woefully underperformed, namely lifting honours at international sports competitions.

Calcutta's famed football club, East Bengal, all set to celebrate its centenary in five years, won three prestigious cups when the one-time best defender in Ghana's national football team, Suley Musah, was captain of East Bengal. The club won the ASEAN Cup, the National Football League and the Kolkata League all in one year: in 2003 led by the Ghanian.

Bengal's football connection with Africa has not been a one-way street, which is what entitles the state to a special place at a shared bilateral diplomatic initiative like the India-Africa Summit.

The connection has been beneficial to Africans as much as it has helped their hosts in Calcutta. For example, Kenya's central defender Sammy Pamzo Omollo, was judged the "Best Coach of the Year" at the Footballer of the Year Awards in 2011. Also that year, Omollo was selected as the "Safaricom Sports Personality of the Year".

The Kenyan has been coaching clubs in Bengal for six years in a row. He too believes in the shared benefits of the India-Africa football romance. "The African player will bring the energy," says Omollo. "The Indian player will bring the flair. With this combination we make a strong team."

It was in 1979 that an African footballer played for a club in Bengal for the first time. His name was David Williams. He too played for East Bengal. Since then, many Africans have played for clubs in Calcutta, especially East Bengal, which been the most welcoming for players from that continent.

They have included World Cup stars: one such is Emeka Ezeugo who was a member of the Nigerian team for the 1994 World Cup. Also Nigerian, striker Cheema Okerie, carved out a name for himself between 1987 and 1990 on the Calcutta football scene. His goal scoring talent was considered lethal by the city's dedicated football fans. It was the same with Ghana's attacking mid-fielder Emmanuel Opoku who lived in Calcutta for two years: 1998-99.

But it is Omollo of Kenya who has dedicated himself to the sport in Bengal longest among Africans.

Omollo arrived in the city 1997 and has been there for 18 years now. He played for both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. For the last six years he has been coaching players in the state.

Africans who play for East Bengal today include Bello Razaq, the Nigerian centre back and striker Ranti Martins, also a Nigerian.

In the annals of India-Africa relations, there is nothing that beats Bengal's non-official, people-to-people link with Africa through football, which MEA has carefully documented to be celebrated at next week's summit.

It is highly unlikely that anyone will tell Narendra Modi a secret of sorts about India's much-talked-about development assistance for Africa as the Prime Minister busily "commutes" between Bihar and the summit plus bilateral meetings on its sidelines.

"Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation," better known as ITEC, is now celebrated as a model for South-South development partnership.

ITEC has become so big that hardly any African or Indian leader remembers - and hence a secret of sorts - that the programme's origin was not entirely altruistic as commonly believed in diplomatic folklore.

When a border war erupted between India and China, Jawaharlal Nehru was deeply disappointed that Africans - the few states which had emerged from colonial rule, but more so leaders in the continent who were spearheading Africa's freedom movements - did not come out in support of New Delhi against Peking, now Beijing. Most of these leaders were ambivalent, some threw their support behind Mao Tse-tung as the chairman was then known.

The foreign secretary of that time, M.J. Desai and the highly regarded Y.D. Gundevia, Commonwealth secretary in Nehru's establishment - a post made redundant later - could not explain to the Prime Minister how support from Africa fell short, although New Delhi was behind none in putting its best foot forward for freeing Africans from the yoke of colonialism.

So they collectively decided that several heads were better than one and called home the heads of Indian trade missions to African countries. Since a large number of capitals in the continent had colonial rulers and were not free, India did not have diplomatic representation in these capitals, but only trade missions. Connectivity with Africa being what it was, it took a year to convene such a meeting. This meeting of trade commissioners came up with the idea of ITEC.

This bit of history is a reminder that 53 years later, the fundamentals of diplomacy with Africa have not changed. Appreciably not in public perception at any rate.

Last week, Navtej Sarna, secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry, and Syed Akbaruddin, chief coordinator for the summit, held a media briefing on what to expect from engaging Africa. The third question was a comparison between the presence of India and China in Africa.

Sarna told the questioner that "you are in the comparison business, I am not. I would rather be in the promotion business." Which is what next week's summit is about.