PM arrives for G-20 summit, against protectionist sentiments

V S Chandrasekar
Seoul, Nov 10 (PTI) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
arrived here Wednesday for the G-20 summit cautioning against
protectionism while declaring it was in India's interest to
have an "open, stable and rule-based" international economic
environment including in trade and investment flows.
"Given the vast development challenges we face it is in
India's interest to have an open, stable and rule-based
international economic environment, whether in the field of
trade, investment flows, technology transfers or open
markets," Singh said on the eve of the fifth Summit of 20
advanced and emerging economies(G-20) in the South Korean
Capital.
Singh's comments came as the G-20 countries worked to
rebalance the lopsided global economy and resolve fractious
currency disputes marked by a war of words. The summit's theme
of the Seoul summit is 'Shared Growth beyond the Crisis'.
The summit which will be also attended by US President
Barack Obama is also expected to see heated debate on the
issue of regulatory reforms of the financial sector.
"This is a key area of work, and we must guard against
complacency in the pursuit of a strong financial regulatory
framework and effective supervision," Singh said.
Singh's delegation for the two-day summit included
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and Finance secretary Ashok
Chawla.
"We have to be particularly wary of protectionist
sentiments. There are also developmental imbalances within and
between countries, and rebalancing of the world economy is a
major challenge. The success of the Mutual Assessment Process
is important in this regard." Singh said in a statement.
"India will actively participate in this process to
strike the right balance between ensuring its credibility as
well as the national interests of countries," he said.
The Prime Minister said the Seoul Summit will focus on
the G-20 framework for strong sustainable and balanced growth,
including an ambitious outcome in the form of the Seoul Action
Plan.
"We will work with the others towards this end, and
also encourage the G-20 to focus on the development agenda
which is being introduced for the first time in Seoul. We must
also give though to how we can leverage global imbalances to
bridge the infrastructure gap between rich and poor nations,"
Singh said.
In the financial sector, the Prime Minister said, the
Summit should build on the process of International Monetary
Fund reform on which good progress was made last month at the
G-20 Finance Ministers meeting with an agreement on shifts in
quota shares, including in favour of India, while protecting
the vote share of the poorest.
He said the Summit will also look at issues of
regulatory reforms of the financial sector and consider the
new Basel-III norms.
"This is a key area of work, and we must guard against
complacency in the pursuit of a strong financial regulatory
framework and effective supervision," he added.
Singh said the world economy was on the path of
recovery but nations should keep their focus on how to
optimise global outcomes in an increasingly interdependent
world.
"As the Indian economy moves to a higher growth path,
and opens to the world, our stake in a stable, inclusive and
representative global economic and financial system will only
grow," he said.
Noting that this is the second G-20 Summit this year,
the Prime Minister said this reflected the high expectations
the world has from the G-20 in moving beyond the immediate
crisis that the world faced in 2008 to ensuring a sustained
and balanced economic recovery in the long term.
The Seoul Summit is the first G-20 Summit outside a
G-8 country and the first in Asia.
On the margins of the Summit, Singh will have
bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister David Cameron
and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper among others. PTI
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