The 3rd India-Africa forum summit begins in New Delhi today. Heads of States and Representatives of all 54 African countries are participating in it. The 4-day summit will address the key challenges faced by Africa, which includes food, health and environmental security. India hopes to create conditions that stimulate trade and investment flows between India and African countries.<br/><br/>The two sides are expected to reinforce their partnership on the global platform and deepen security cooperation including on maritime security and countering terrorism. Talking to AIR, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, this is the first time that India is inviting all countries of Africa because the earlier summits were based on a limited number of participation. He expressed hope that the summit will be a new direction to India's engagement with Africa.<br/><br/>Earlier yesterday, inaugurating India-Africa Editors Forum in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that the relationships between African and Indian media must be placed on the bedrock of grass-roots empowerment. She said, India and Africa have to work together to fix anomalies in United Nations, and push for UNSC membership. Delhi Police have put in place a comprehensive security arrangement for the summit and will go for aerial survey and roof-top marking as part of the arrangements.