“I am leaving Sierra Leone with fond memories of the lovely people and places, which I will always cherish.”-outgone India High Commissioner to Sierra Leone Rakish Kumar Arora.
The India High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Rakesh Kumar Arora, on Friday 28th January 2022 bade farewell to Sierra Leones’ President Julius Maada Bio to mark the end of his tenure of office in the country.
According to a report by the State House Communications Unit, Mr. Arora during a short statement applauded President Julius Maada Bio for the steps taken in transforming a country that returned from a devastating rebel war, Ebola, mudslide, and grappling with the coronavirus disease that’s ravaging people and economies of the world. He added that those steps signaled prospects for the country.
The career diplomat sat in a virtual discussion with the Editor of Politico Newspaper Mabinty M Kamara, sharing his thoughts on his service to Sierra Leone and the impressions he will be taking home about the small West African country of Sierra Leone.
Politico: Tell us a little bit about yourself?
H. Commissioner: I belong to the Indian Foreign Service and assumed charge as the first resident High Commissioner to Sierra Leone on the 8th August 2020 after the Indian Vice President visited Sierra Leone in 2019 and had fruitful discussions and bilateral agreements with the government of Sierra Leone.
Prior to this, I was the Councilor at the Embassy of India, in Brussels and handled India's political engagement with the European Union as well as Belgium and Luxembourg.
I was previously Director/Deputy Secretary in the Multilateral Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of External Affairs and was responsible for matters related to BRICS, including India’s BRICS Chairmanship and BRICS Leaders’ Goa Summit in 2016.
I also served in Indian Missions in Jakarta and Copenhagen as First/Second Secretary, where I looked after bilateral political and commercial relations.
Since joining the Ministry of External Affairs in 1984, I have served in various capacities at Headquarters and in Indian Missions in Accra, Dubai, Riyadh, Islamabad, and Tokyo.
I am a Commerce Graduate from the University of Delhi.
And I moved into Sierra Leone with my wife Jeewan Asha.
Politico: What are some of your accomplishments during the period as High Commissioner to Sierra Leone?
H. Commissioner: I arrived in Sierra Leone in August 2020 to establish the resident High Commission of India in Freetown. The decision to have a resident mission was announced by our Vice President during his visit to Sierra Leone in October 2019. The Mission has since been established in terms of infrastructure and is fully operational. We have begun visa, passport, and consular services for the Sierra Leoneans and Indian expatriates. I am grateful to the Government of Sierra Leone as well as the Indian community for their tremendous support in this regard.
The presence of the Indian mission in Freetown has enabled active official engagement between the two countries. I am pleased to mention here that the first Foreign Office Consultation was held in March 2021 in Freetown, barely six months after my arrival.
There has been active engagement between the two countries now in the energy, trade, education, and training sectors.
India has included Sierra Leone as a beneficiary of India’s Duty-Free Trade Preference Scheme.
Sierra Leone has decided to join the International Solar Alliance, once the Cabinet and Parliament approvals are obtained.
We took a deep interest in bringing together various stakeholders for the speedy completion of procedures for the four Lines of Credit already extended by India to Sierra Leone; one of which for power generation has almost reached the bidding stage. I am sure, the project should begin in the next six months or so.
We made sure that the 15 scholarships allocated to Sierra Leone every year are fully utilised. In addition, for those who have availed of scholarships for online UG/PG courses (more than 200), a Learning Centre was set up in Fourah Bay College. Special training programmes were organised for the Civil Aviation Authority (online), Diplomats from the MFAIC (online), and Electoral Commission (in India). Sierra Leone is also allocated 60 seats every year under India Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme. Unfortunately, due to Covid, in-person programmes remained suspended and only online programmes were available.
India extended humanitarian assistance of 1000 MTs of rice in March 2021, which was announced during VP’s visit in 2019.
In order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, India donated a large consignment of medicines to the Ministry of Health & Sanitation in February 2021.
Trade and investment activities on both sides have been increasing. Indian Commerce Ministry’s data shows that bilateral trade has risen by more than 25% each year in 2020 and 2021.
Politico: What is your assessment of the relationship between India and Sierra Leone and how do you think the relationship could be improved?
H. Commissioner: We have hosted three India-Africa Summits; the last one was in 2015 in New Delhi which was also attended by the former President of Sierra Leone.
India and Sierra Leone share a cordial relationship based on common values and shared vision which dates back to almost six decades. It provided a new momentum with the first-ever high-level visit from India by Vice President of India in October 2019.
The bilateral relations have been consolidated with the establishment of the new mission in Freetown
In my opinion, enhanced people-to-people engagement through businesses, education, training, healthcare, etc. would be instrumental in furthering our bilateral relationship.
Politico: What would you remember about Sierra Leone as you leave?
H. Commissioner: I am leaving Sierra Leone with a sense of satisfaction having been able to establish the mission which is operational now.
I am leaving Sierra Leone with fond memories of the lovely people and places, which I will always cherish. Of particular interest was the memorial in Daru of an Indian soldier, who was martyred in 2000.
I visited the memorial recently to pay homage. It finds mention in the book ‘Operation Khukri’ which narrates the firsthand account of the Operation orchestrated by Major Punia and ended in the successful rescue of 233 Indian peacekeepers. They survived the ambush of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in prolonged jungle warfare lasting about 75 days. India had played an important role in achieving peace and stability in Sierra Leone by contributing 4000 troops to the UN Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in 2000-2001.
