By Jerromie S. Walters
MONROVIA — India’s Ambassador to Liberia, Mr. Manoj Bihari Verma, on Thursday, May 14, 2026, announced that New Delhi will host two landmark international summits later this month — the 4th India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-IV) and the inaugural International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) Summit — with Liberia set to participate in both events.
Briefing journalists at the Embassy of India in Monrovia, Ambassador Verma said the back-to-back summits, scheduled from 29 May to 1 June 2026, underscore India’s deepening engagement with Africa and its commitment to global conservation.
“India will welcome leaders and representatives from across the African continent, the African Union Commission, and Regional Economic Communities,” Verma said. “This will be the first such summit in over a decade and a defining moment in India-Africa relations.”
The 4th India-Africa Forum Summit, scheduled for 31 May, will convene under the theme: IA SPIRIT: India-Africa Strategic Partnership for Innovation, Resilience, and Inclusive Transformation. The summit programme begins on 28 May with a Senior Officials Meeting, followed by the India-Africa Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 29 May, and culminates in the Leaders’ Summit on 31 May.
Alongside the official meetings, an India-Africa Business Dialogue and Exhibition will take place on 29–30 May to strengthen commercial partnerships and private-sector collaboration. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will also host an India-Africa Dance and Music Festival in New Delhi.
Ambassador Verma emphasised that India has taken a consultative, demand-driven approach to ensure that the summit’s outcomes respond directly to Africa’s priorities. Key agenda items include political and strategic cooperation, peace and security, economic transformation, digital public infrastructure, space technology, artificial intelligence, climate action, and people-to-people exchanges.
“Since the third summit in 2015, India has opened 17 new diplomatic missions across Africa, including this embassy in Monrovia established in 2021,” Verma noted. “That brings India’s total diplomatic presence in Africa to 46 missions — a concrete demonstration of India’s long-term commitment to this continent.”
On June 1, 2026, New Delhi will host the first-ever IBCA Summit, a gathering of the International Big Cat Alliance — a first-of-its-kind intergovernmental organisation headquartered in India and was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2023. The alliance focuses on conserving seven iconic big cat species: tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar, and puma.
Currently, 25 countries are members, and Ambassador Verma confirmed that Liberia ratified the IBCA Framework Agreement on 8 January 2025, making it one of the early committed members. “Liberia’s remarkable biodiversity and forest ecosystems make this membership not only appropriate but genuinely meaningful,” Verma said.
The summit will bring together heads of state and government, conservation practitioners, scientists, and partner organisations from 95 big cat range countries across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. More than 400 conservationists and policymakers are expected to attend. A key outcome will be the adoption of the “Delhi Declaration” — the first-ever global declaration on big cat conservation — under the theme Save Big Cats, Save Humanity, Save Ecosystem.
Ambassador Verma highlighted the growing momentum in bilateral ties, recalling that India stood with Liberia during its civil conflict and pandemics. “India’s all-women UN peacekeeping contingent, deployed to Liberia in 2007, remains a proud and lasting symbol of our partnership and shared values,” he said.
In May–June 2025, a nine-member multi-party parliamentary delegation led by Member of Parliament Dr. Shrikant Eknath Shinde visited Liberia, meeting President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr., the foreign minister, and parliamentary leaders. The two sides reinforced a shared commitment to zero tolerance for terrorism. On 29 December 2025, India and Liberia held their first UN Consultations in New Delhi, where India affirmed support for Liberia’s tenure on the UN Security Council.
Development cooperation has also expanded significantly. India has doubled ITEC training slots from 70 to 140 and increased ICCR scholarships fivefold to 20. More than 150 Liberians travelled to India in 2025 for training programmes in mining safety, nursing, trauma care, public administration, film, and media studies.
Cultural ties are flourishing as well. A 15-member Liberian cultural troupe participated in the Surajkund International Crafts Mela in India earlier this year. In December 2025, the two countries signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding on pharmacopoeia cooperation, enabling Liberia to use Indian standards for medicine quality regulation — a direct benefit for Liberian public health.
Ambassador Verma urged Liberian journalists to cover the summits as events with real significance for Liberia, Africa, and South-South cooperation. “The Embassy of India in Monrovia stands ready to be your partner in covering these historic events,” he said.
Citing India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, Verma concluded: “Together, India and Africa are not just partners in development — we are partners in shaping a better world. This is our season of renewal, for India and Africa, for conservation, and for the longstanding friendship between India and Liberia.”
