Press Release No. 93
26 December 2006
External Affairs Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s Speech
At the Annual Diplomatic Dinner hosted by the Heads of Diplomatic Missions in Delhi
The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps,
Ambassador Dago Tshering, Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to find myself amongst all of you so soon after the round of informal lunches that we had last month shortly after I took over as the Minister of External Affairs. I had said on those occasions that I saw them as only the beginning of an intense engagement with members of this august grouping. I would, therefore, like to place on record my deep appreciation to the Dean and all the resident Heads of Mission in New Delhi for inviting me this evening and providing me the opportunity to again share some thoughts with you about the tasks and challenges facing India, especially at a time when the country is assuming a more demanding role on the world stage.
Allow me to highlight briefly five major themes of some salience.
First, it goes without saying that India’s external policy has to be fully in consonance with the remarkable changes taking place within the country. As you would have observed yourselves, the big story coming out of India is clearly the economic one. With the launching of economic reforms since the 1990s, the Indian economy has registered consistently high growth rates. The 9.2% growth witnessed in the last quarter of this financial year is the latest in this series of developments. I recall that the subject of a major business conference in India some years ago was: “Is 8% growth possible?” That question, one might say, has been answered. Our planners today are looking at a sustained growth rate that will approach and stay in the double digits over the next 15 years. It is only growth of this quantum that will enable us to create jobs, provide better basic services to the population and, most importantly, strike a decisive blow against rural and urban poverty in the country.
Sustaining this growth will obviously also have foreign policy dimensions. It will require deeper engagement with the outside world by way of increased access to international markets, sources of energy, advanced technologies and foreign investment. There would, accordingly, be much greater focus on economic diplomacy in the pursuit of our economic interests. In view of this, the impasse at the Doha round of trade negotiations is a matter of the utmost concern. Orderly governance and conduct of global trade is a global public good and India will, therefore, continue to play its role in efforts to find an end to the impasse.
It is clear that the Doha outcome must expand trade opportunities for all; but it must also achieve development objectives and safeguard crucial developing country interests such as livelihood security, which are the avowed objectives of the Round. For its part, India also intends to expand and deepen its engagement with various economic groupings such as ASEAN, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, BIMSTEC, IBSA, G-15, Indian Ocean Rim and the East Asian Community. In fact, early next week, I look forward to participating in the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ meetings, as well as some East Asia Summit related meetings, in order to carry forward the process of our engagement with one of the fastest growing regions in our neighbourhood.
The second point I want to make is that India’s worldview is a multi-polar one. Today, the bandwidth of our political engagement and economic and technical cooperation with the rest of the world is wider than ever before. Proceeding on the assumption that major powers today have greater incentives to cooperate rather than to compete, India has embarked on forging strategic partnerships with all major powers of the world. We have entered into strategic partnerships with the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Union and are pursuing strategic cooperation with China. Through the IBSA forum, India is engaged with two leading emerging economies, Brazil and South Africa. We have also devoted a lot of our attention to ASEAN, as well as countries of West Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Our own immediate neighbourhood, naturally, remains an area of the highest priority for us. With our immediate neighbours, we are bound together by history, culture and ethnic ties, and the destinies of our peoples are closely intertwined. As we strive to build strong and enduring partnerships with all our neighbours, our endeavour has been to work together with these countries to create a space of prosperity and shared values based on economic integration, enhanced trade and investment linkages, stronger political and cultural ties and promotion of sustainable social and economic development. We are deeply interested in pursing regional and cross-border cooperation and in ensuring smooth functioning and secure frontiers.
It is an article of faith for us that South Asian region should have much closer economic integration. As the host of the next SAARC Summit in April 2007, we hope to carry forward this process. For improving connectivity in the region, we have offered transit facilities on reciprocal basis to all countries in the region, including greater air connectivity through a virtual open skies arrangement. Through a strengthened SAARC process, we hope to usher in a phase marked by strong economic growth. It is our hope, however, that one of the key steps in this process, namely, the full implementation of SAFTA, will be realized soon as this will provide a major boost to regional economic cooperation.
While speaking of India’s engagement with the world, mention also has to be made of the crucial issue of UN reforms, particularly the expansion of the Security Council, and the inclusion of India as a permanent member. Enough has been said already about the need for reform of the UN so that it is more reflective of current day realities rather than the aftermath of a more than half a century old conflict. A strengthened, more democratic UN is a basic necessity of the new global order.
My third point is that global challenges facing humanity today require global responses. For countries to pursue segmented approaches to these challenges is to pursue fool’s gold. This is true of the most pressing problems of the day, such as the scourge of international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and related technologies, trafficking of arms and drugs, the increasing levels of violence and destruction perpetrated by non-state actors, pandemics and natural disasters, climate change and environmental degradation. We need coordinated transnational action to respond to these challenges. For India especially, violence and terrorism with cross-border inspiration, links and material sustenance constitute a major external security challenge. This and other similar global challenges will play a greater role in our security calculus. India will continue to work actively with friendly countries in strengthening regional and global security, participate in UN peacekeeping missions and take necessary measures with regard to counter-terrorism and non-proliferation. Behind this is the recognition that peace and security are critical ingredients for the economic development that remains our primary goal. Through Your Excellencies present here tonight, I wish to reiterate the need for all our countries to increase our cooperation in the areas I have mentioned.
The fourth point I wish to make to you is that, in the comity of nations, India is a factor for stability. We present a model that, with all its imperfections, values and cherishes its governing framework of pluralistic democracy, secularism and the harmonious co-existence of a multiplicity of faiths, customs, ethnicities and languages. It is also a model that does not seek to export any ideologies. It is on this foundation that we are trying to build the India of tomorrow. Today, India is among the youngest countries in the world. In our endeavour to strengthen economic, commercial and investment linkages with the outside world, we offer opportunities that potential partners abroad could take advantage of. The areas are familiar to you – Information and Communication Technologies, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, automotive manufacturing and knowledge-based industries.
In addition to a large market, a burgeoning middle class of over 300 million people and a relatively young self-confident population, India also has a sizable resource of scientific and technical manpower. While Indian companies are beginning to spread their wings by investing and trading far and wide, more foreign companies should start seriously looking at India for business opportunities as a manufacturing hub, a base for sophisticated R&D and for forging joint ventures. Infrastructure development and modernization in the country, which is a high priority for us, is yet another area of mutually beneficial partnership. The 7 million outbound Indian tourist market should be of wider interest outside since, with increasing prosperity, this figure is only likely to go in one direction – upwards. Facilitation of the movement of people for these activities is naturally important and, since I have a captive audience here tonight, let me state that easing the visa process for Indian entrepreneurs and professionals will go a long way in enhancing of business ties with India.
Finally, a point about process. Notwithstanding the multiple voices that you no doubt hear across the political spectrum in our democratic system, which is not only the biggest but also among the most vibrant, it is quite evident that there is a broad national consensus on the core elements of our foreign policy. That various foreign policy issues have to sometimes run the gauntlet of intense debate in the parliamentary forums of the country is one of the inherent strengths of the process and ensures that the country’s policies enjoy the broad backing that is required if they are to be pursued successfully. While pragmatism is an abiding feature of this process, there is no bar for proactive and path breaking approaches to be pursued by our policymakers.
Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen.