In his inaugural address at the opening session of 39th annual meeting of board of governors of the Asian Development Bank in Hyderabad, Dr Singh had a word of praise for China.
"There is scope for peer learning within the Asian region from the successes of other countries. The Chinese economy has performed exceedingly well over the last two decades, demonstrating that growth rates which are the envy of most other countries. This has helped vast millions of people to be pulled out of the grip of acute poverty," he said.
Further, the growth of the Chinese economy has fuelled demand for products and services of other countries and China, in many ways, has become an engine of growth for the world economy. "There is a lot to learn from the Chinese economic experience and the ADB can certainly facilitate it," he observed.
The Prime Minister said that the Asian region has become an engine of global growth in recent years. The United States and Europe would continue to display considerable resilience and would remain important drivers of global growth. "However, East and South-east Asia, including India, are bound to increase their profile and relevance to the global economy," he forecast
Asia would continue to increase its share of world GDP and trade, both as a source of export supply and as a source of import demand. Asia would consume more food and more energy. Asia would demand better infrastructure and seek improved services.
"Given the potential for investment demand in the region, we must find ways of making better use of our savings and surpluses generated in our region," he said.
"For the past quarter century, Asia is once again on the move. Millions of people in our region have been liberated from poverty, ignorance and disease. If we can sustain this growth process, and ensure that it is equitable, we can banish poverty for all times to come. If we can pursue economic development in the framework of an open economy and an open, democratic society, we would have succeeded in restoring Asia to its ancient glory as the land for knowledge, wisdom, creativity and compassion," Dr Singh observed.
Manmohan Singh mooted the idea of Pan Asian Free Trade Area and suggested Asian Development Bank to study the benefits of such an economic agglomeration in Asia.
"This pan-Asian FTA could be the future of Asia and will, I am certain, open up new growth avenues for our economy," he said.
He said India has concluded free trade agreements with SAARC, Singapore and Thailand and was working on similar agreements with ASEAN, Japan, China and South Korea. "India is determined to carry forward India-ASEAN partnership to an enlarged domain for making the 21st century a truly Asian century," he added.
"With this idea in mind, we have actively pursued external liberalisation by cutting down customs duty rates. The current peak rate, at around 12.5 percent, is quite close to ASEAN levels. India has also announced policy objective of aligning its duty rates with ASEAN levels," he said.
He said his government was linking India into a web of partnerships with the countries of the Asian region through free trade and comprehensive economic cooperation agreements.
"This web of engagements may herald an eventual free trade area in Asia covering all major Asian economies and possibly extending to Australia and New Zealand," he pointed out.
Stressing that India has a vital stake in the prosperity and stability of Asia, he said "we signaled our renewed commitment to regional economic cooperation with our 'Look East' policy. The policy marked a strategic shift in India's evolving perspective of the world. It helped up pick up the threads from the 1940s and the 1950s when we were actively engaged in building a new Asia."
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