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“Dominance of U.S. on the decline”

PUDUCHERRY: India will have a major role to play in an emerging bi-polar world, according to former diplomat T. P Sreenivasan.

In his inaugural address at a colloquium on ‘India-EU-US: A Trialogue,’ organised by the Pondicherry University here on Sunday, he said the military and economic “dominance” of United States over other countries was on the decline.

“One single moment, that is the terrorist attack on United States, has dramatically changed international politics. Now, the U.S. is considered a declining power.”

But still the U.S. was a power to reckon with and would be very much part of a bi-polar world, co-existing with other power centre’s such as Russia, China, Japan and European Union, he said.

“India with its growing economy will have a major role to play in international relations,” Mr. Sreenivasan pointed out.

Unlike in the past when nations clashed over ideological issues, in the years to come there would be more scope for co-ordination amongcountries, as they were confronted with common issues such as global warming, HIV, poverty and other environmental problems, Mr. Sreenivasan said.

On the domestic standoff on the nuclear deal, the former diplomat said, “This was the best deal that the country could have had. Probably, the agreement would have “brought the nation to the nuclear mainstream” without signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty or Nuclear Proliferation Treaty,” Mr. Sreenivasan said.

Pointing out that the European Union had always taken a liberal stand on issues confronting India, Mr. Sreenivasan said there was great scope for cooperation between the two, especially in tackling terrorism and finding solution to environmental issues.

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