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Vajpayee asks EU to share prosperity with Third World

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with First Lady of Cyprus Lilla Irene Clerides at a banquet hosted by the President of Cyprus at Nicosia on Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee laying a wreath at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Nicosia on Tuesday. — PTI photos

Copenhagen, October 9
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today called on the European Union (EU) to share India’s philosophy regarding the even spread of development and sustainable prosperity of the developed countries. He said whereas many minds in India and Europe had proclaimed this vision, its realisation had eluded the world.

The Prime Minister also warned this rich grouping of nations that the dismantling of high agricultural subsidies would greatly harm the growth prospects of developing countries. The withdrawal of subsidies is on top of the agenda of the EU and is a touchy topic with socialist economies of the EU.

The Prime Minster said the major challenges before the international community were poverty alleviation and sustainable development. India was working towards these goals in a comprehensive manner and the result, he said, was that in the first quarter of this fiscal year India’s economic growth had been over 6 per cent.

The 15-member EU is India’s largest trading partner and the biggest source of foreign direct investment. It is also a major contributor of developmental aid to India and in this regard, the Prime Minister’s statement on even and sustainable development is significant.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) which is one of the sponsors of the third India-EU business summit, has identified nine specific sectors for bilateral trade and investment flows between India and Europe.

These include advertising biotechnology, entertainment, environmental products and services, education, financial services, health services, information technology and Rand D and design.

Small and medium enterprises constitute the backbone of the EU economy and so also of India, and the CII has identified this commonality as a meeting ground for greater integration.

Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal on board the Prime Minister’s aircraft on way to Copenhagen said the summit level talks with the EU were of great importance as the EU recognised the fact that India was a growing economic giant and its political stature was growing as a result of that. Since the last summit, EU and India have entered into joint working groups in several fields in order to further trade and expansion of cooperation at all levels.

The Foreign Secretary said the Joint Working Group on terrorism had made progress towards fighting international terrorism. On being asked whether the Prime Minister would take up the issue of extradition of Abu Salem from Portugal, the Foreign Secretary replied that the issue was being tackled on a government-to-government level with Portugal and would not come up at the EU meeting.

The Foreign Secretary said India would have to work with the legal system of Portugal and then take steps accordingly. Even in the EU, he said, many member nations did not see eye to eye on political issues. Hence, there might not be prudence in bringing up the Salem issue at the summit meeting.

Significantly, the Prime Minister did not dwell too much on the issue of terrorism and made just a passing remark on cross-border terrorism. He did not mention Pakistan in his speech whereas just a day earlier he had dwelt at length on this issue in Cyprus.

The Prime Minister said the fact that India had managed a healthy economic growth level despite what he called “relentless and sustained terrorism in parts of or country masterminded from across our borders and designed to create political turbulence and economic disruption and social disharmony” was indeed noteworthy.

The Prime Minister’s address is the concluding part of the three-day India-EU business summit. ANI