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Saturday, Feb 05, 2005

International

International - India & World

Review terms of globalisation, says Chidambaram

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, FEB. 4. The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, has urged the developed countries to review the current terms of economic globalisation to make the process ``more just and more equitable.''

Reiterating India's commitment to globalisation which it ``willingly'' embraced in its ``self-interest,'' Mr. Chidambaram questioned the ``terms of engagement'' saying they were ``heavily weighted'' in favour of the developed world.

``I urge you to review the process of globalisation. And I urge you to renew the process by making it more inclusive, more just and more equitable,'' he said warning that the present situation did ``not augur well for either globalisation or stability.''

Mr. Chidambaram's remarks, in a speech at the Foreign Policy Centre, came ahead of a meeting of the Finance Ministers of seven industrialised countries (G-7) which began here today under Britain's chairmanship. Debt relief and more aid to poorer countries were said to be high on its agenda.

Mr. Chidambaram, who would join the G-7 Finance Ministers at a breakfast meeting on Saturday before returning home, met his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, on Friday. They signed an agreement launching the Indo-British Economic and Financial Dialogue as part of an ongoing process of strengthening bilateral trade relations.

Last month, the two countries launched an Indo-U.K. Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) during Britain's Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt's visit to India.

Both these initiatives were envisaged in the joint declaration issued here on September 20 last year during the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's visit to Britain.

In his speech, Mr. Chidambaram, said:

``The real question is not globalisation. India accepts and willingly embraces the imperative of globalisation. We do it in our self-interest. The real question is the terms of engagement in globalisation. As of today, the terms are heavily weighted in favour of the developed countries. Millions of people in developing countries, and in the least developing countries, watch in silence, and with a growing sense of bitterness, that the Age of Prosperity is passing them by. This does not augur well for either globalisation or stability.''

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