M A I N   N E W S

Manmohan for more regional cooperation
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 9
Saying that the destiny of South Asia was interlinked, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today called upon India’s immediate neighbours to learn to work together to deal with the challenges of poverty, disease, natural disasters and terrorism.

‘‘The time has come for a new vision, a new commitment and a new sense of purpose in South Asia and I hope we have the political will and wisdom to seize the moment,’’ he said while inaugurating the Haksar Memorial Conference at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here, maintaining that there was need to invest more time and energy in working together ‘‘to deal with the greater challenges of our times".

‘‘The fight against poverty and terrorism in South Asia is an indivisible fight. There are threats to the life, peace and security of all our peoples and we must deal with them as such. No country can any longer pretend that someone's terrorists could be someone else's freedom fighters. No government can any longer pretend that what happens across the border is not going to hurt it internally," he said.

Keeping the coming SAARC summit later this week in view, the Prime Minister laid greater stress on improving infrastructure, trade and economic relations among the member nations. There was a greater need of a perspective of interdependence that strengthened ‘‘our collective security and secures our collective prosperity.’’

‘‘I do believe that we must work with our neighbours to ensure that all nations benefit from the growth process in the region. Our neighbours must see it as a land of opportunity. Be it in education, in healthcare, in tourism, in trade and investment opportunities. India has the capacity and the tradition to welcome its neighbours. Provided, of course, that those who visit us come as our friends and our well- wishers and bear no ill-will towards our people and our nation,’’ he said.

The Prime Minister said that he was happy that the South Asian Free Trade Area, SAFTA, was on the anvil, maintaining that it would be the first step in the evolution of SAARC as a regional trade bloc and economic zone. Most of the discussions on SAFTA centred around its favourable effect on intra-regional trade. Regional economic integration, however, was more about finding an engine of growth rather than just promoting trade.

‘‘Given the strong trends towards economic integration, which go far beyond tariff reductions to gradual economic convergence, any region can ignore the formation of its own scheme of regional integration only at its peril. By removing trade policy barriers, SAFTA would lead to an estimated trebling of intra-regional trade on a conservative estimate,’’ the Prime Minister said, holding that "we must see SAFTA as the forerunner of the deeper economic integration in the region.’’ He quoted the example of the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Area, which had benefited the latter tremendously.

He felt that SAFTA might help in evolving a horizontal specialisation across the region to enable the most optional utilisation of the synergies among member countries for their mutual advantage. ‘‘SAFTA is a step in the right direction. However, to exploit its full potential we need to complete its process expeditiously, complement it by a SAARC Investment Area and move on to deepen it further by forming the SAARC Customs Union and then gradually to an economic union. SAARC could also evolve a forum for annual meetings of economic or industry ministers to facilitate discussion on the exploitation of complementaries in their economies for mutual advantage," the Prime Minister said.

He also advocated steps to improve physical connectivity by road, railways, inland waterways, shipping and air links to exploit the advantage of geographic proximity. ‘‘They could evolve a common SAARC transport policy to facilitate the movement of goods across the region.

"Energy cooperation presents immense potential. To promote regional cooperation in the area, a South Asian energy dialogue comprising experts, academics, environmentalists, bureaucrats and NGOs could examine the potential for energy cooperation and suggest measures to exploit it. There are many more, especially in the spheres of education, healthcare, tourism and disaster management, which need similar cooperation,’’ he added.

Earlier, the Governor of Punjab, Gen S.F. Rodrigues (retd), in his address of welcome spoke about the relevance of the theme of the conference.

The Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, paid rich tributes to P.N. Haksar, describing him as an outstanding bureaucrat who had a scientific approach to whatever he did.

Mr Rashpal Malhotra, Director-General, CRRID, talked about various projects being undertaken by the centre and members of its faculty.

He suggested the setting up of a Dr P.N. Haksar Chair at the centre, to which the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, gave instant approval.

Ms Nandita Haksar, daughter of P.N. Haksar, said that her father was not only a hard-boiled diplomat-bureaucrat but also an idealist who subscribed to a strong value system and always stood by his principles.

Dr R.P. Bambah, who proposed a vote of thanks, described P.N. Haksar as a great visionary and said that CRRID would continue to pursue the goals set by him as its founder-Chairman.

PM rules out Natwar’s resignation
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 9
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today ruled out the resignation of Mr K. Natwar Singh on the basis of the Volcker Committee Report, saying that the Government had already taken action in the case.

Talking to newsmen after inaugurating the Haksar Memorial Conference at the Sector 19 CRRID here today, Dr Manmohan Singh said no further action was required till the committees headed by two eminent personalities of the nation - Justice R.S. Pathak and Mr Virender Dayal — submitted their reports. He said further details about the probe would be announced soon.

When asked whether Mr K. Natwar Singh had been asked to resign, the Prime Minister said, “whatever was to be done has been done”.

Denying that there was any delay on the part of the UPA government in taking action after the Volcker Committee Report was made public, Dr Manmohan Singh said the government issued a statement on Wednesday, within two days of the report being made public.

When asked whether the Congress or Mr K. Natwar Singh were being specifically targeted, the Prime Minister refused to comment, saying, “Since an inquiry has already started, I do not wish to say anything more. The inquiry would be conducted in a free and fair manner and necessary action would be taken on its report,” he added.