STRASBOURG: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Wednesday said the European Union was an "inspirational model" worthy of emulation by every region of the world, and asked the European Parliament to initiate three important Indo-European missions that could contribute to global peace and prosperity.

Addressing the European Parliament, he unveiled the missions — evolution of an enlightened society, a three-dimensional approach for energy independence and a world knowledge platform for synergising the core competence of the European Union and India in areas such as water, healthcare and capacity building.

Mr. Kalam is the first Indian President to have been invited to address the European Parliament.

Mr. Kalam, who arrived here on Tuesday on a two-day visit to France, said: "The European Union and India radiate a message to the world — that regional cooperation and inter-regional collaboration will lead to a win-win situation for all, so that we can have a politically and socio-economically emergent civilisation."

Lending the touch of an experienced teacher during his nearly hour-long address, illustrated by a power-point presentation, the President envisaged the transformation of all regions into happy unions leading to the emergence of a world of unions before the end of the 21st century. His explanatory remarks and observations and his natural flair for communication drew several rounds of applause from the European parliamentarians.

Mr. Kalam wanted the benefits of development to reach all sections of society. The world over, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and deprivation were driving forward the forces of anger and violence.

He said: "These forces link themselves to some earlier real or perceived historical enmities, tyrannies, injustices, inequities, ethnic issues and religious fundamentalism flowing into an outburst of extremism worldwide.

"Both India and the European Union have witnessed and are witnessing the unsavoury acts of certain misguided sections of society. We have to jointly address ourselves to the root causes of such phenomena for finding lasting solutions for promoting peace."

Dwelling on evolution of righteousness and education with a value system, Mr. Kalam went a step further in enunciating his views on transforming religion into a spiritual force. He expressed confidence that different religions definitely could be bridged through spiritual components.

"The spiritual component spreads the value to be inculcated by human beings for promoting a good human life and welfare of society while pursuing material life," he said.

Mr. Kalam cited the example of the Indian economy that was growing in the manufacturing and service sectors. About 220 million of his compatriots had to be lifted by upgrading their quality of life in both rural and urban areas.

"Even though the GDP growth indicates our economic growth, people's participation is essential for achieving the required targets. It is essential to ensure that citizens are empowered with good quality of life encompassing nutritious food, good habitat, clean environment, affordable healthcare, quality education and productive employment," he said

The President suggested that the missions of a "world knowledge platform" would help in the convergence of bio, nano and information technology and touched every area of concern to humanity.

The areas of utmost urgency were water, healthcare, agriculture and food processing, knowledge products, transportation systems, habitat, disaster prediction and management and capacity building, he pointed out.

Underlining the similarities between the European Union and India, Mr. Kalam said while the European body represented a wealth of scientific potential with a rich culture for research, India had emerged as a leading country with its scientific and technological potential in many societal missions.

"The combined strengths of the nations can be utilised for the mutual advantage of both India and the European Union by joining together as partners in creating the world knowledge platform," he said.

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