Tokyo, October 23
Taking note of “multiple challenges” confronting the world amid a steep rise in energy and food prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today warned that the spectre of recession in global economy threatens to disrupt the rhythm of economic development in many developing nations.

Singh, a noted economist, touched upon the raging global economic meltdown during his address at a reception hosted by the Japan-India Association and Japan-India Parliamentary Friendship League at the end of his three-day visit here.

“The world is now facing multiple challenges. The spectre of recession in the global economy, coming as it does in the wake of steep rise in energy and food prices, threatens to disrupt the rhythm of economic development in many developing countries,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s remarks came a day after he said the international financial crisis had revealed the extraordinary vulnerability of the global financial system even in the industrialised world.

“The crisis has choked credit flows and predictably spilled over to the stock market. We have to prevent the liquidity crisis from becoming a crisis of confidence in the international monetary and financial system,” he said at a gathering of Indian and Japanese business leaders yesterday.

He had said that developing countries like India were also affected by the crisis and had to be part of the solution. At the reception today, Singh described India and Japan as “two major pillars of new Asia”, saying the strategic partners were ready to play a “commensurate global role” in world affairs.

“On the strength of our strong bilateral partnership, we stand today as two major powers ready to play a commensurate global role,” said the Prime Minister, who yesterday inked a landmark security cooperation agreement with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso here.

He said India believed that “a strong and dynamic” Japan was “a powerful factor” of peace and stability in Asia and the world at large.

“We look to the wise counsel and leadership of Japan” to meet the challenges facing the globe, Singh said, adding New Delhi wished to draw upon Tokyo’s vast developmental experience and its traditional emphasis on “consensus, harmony and balance in solving formidable problems that threaten global peace and prosperity”.

Significantly, the function was also attended by former Japanese Premier Yoshiro Mori, who was instrumental in transforming the bilateral ties with a landmark visit to India in 2000.

Describing himself as a “frequent visitor” to Japan, Singh said: “It has been my earnest desire for past several decades, to see this relationship prosper and grow.

“I am very happy to witness today the transformation of India-Japan relations. It is truly developing into a global and strategic partnership as envisaged when Prime Minister Mori visited India in 2000”.

“In the past 60 years, we have broadened and deepened the relationship into a durable and productive partnership,” he said at the event, attended by prominent members of the growing Indian community in Japan. — PTI