BRICS working for shared prosperity: Manmohan Singh

 

Sanya, Apr 14 (ANI): Emphasising that BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) economies occupy a strategic economic position, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, today said that all these countries share the vision of inclusive growth and prosperity in the world.
Addressing the plenary session of BRICS Leaders here, Dr. Singh said: "The challenge before us is to harness the vast potential that exists among us. We are rich in resources, material and human. We are strengthened by the complementarities of our resource endowments."
"We stand for a rule-based, stable and predictable global order. We respect each other's political systems and stages of development. We value diversity and plurality. Our priority is the rapid socio-economic transformation of our people and those of the developing world. Our cooperation is neither directed against nor at the expense of anyone," he added.
He further said: "We have the opportunity to give concrete meaning to the concept of sustainable and balanced development, and produce innovative models of development. We can cooperate in clean and alternative sources of energy and technologies.
Stressing that nuclear safety has emerged as a major source of concern the world over after the tragedy in Japan, Dr Singh said: "We should cooperate in this area, as well as in disaster relief and management."
"We live in an age when science and technology and the growth of human knowledge are becoming major determinants of the power and wealth of nations. We should share our experiences in capacity building, education and skill development," he added.
Emphasising that as large and diverse societies we are vulnerable to new and emerging threats, Dr. Singh said: " It is our duty to our citizens that we cooperate in the fight against terrorism, extremism and intolerance and other non-traditional threats like piracy."
"We should join hands in ensuring a peaceful and orderly transformation of the world order that reflects contemporary and emerging realities. This should be the case whether it is the reform of political and security governance structures in the United Nations or the international financial, monetary or trade system," he added.
Reaffirming India's commitment to a balanced and ambitious outcome to the Doha round of WTO negotiations, Dr. Singh said: " India will continue to engage with its partners to facilitate a rule-based multilateral trade regime which is fair, equitable and addresses the development agenda effectively."
"Cooperation among BRICS holds the promise of building an external environment for ourselves that helps each of us and complements our task of nation building. To that extent I would say the best is yet to come," he added.
He further said India stands ready to work with other BRICS countries to realize these goals.
"Our Ministers and officials must be mandated to give practical shape to our vision and take steps that bring the benefits of our collaboration to the common man," he added.

 

World trade talks hinge on China, India, Brazil - U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fate of long-running world trade talks depend on whether China, India and Brazil are willing to make a deal that will open their markets to additional foreign goods and services, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Wednesday.
"If I can just be blunt, the question is whether they are willing to walk in the room, close the door and hammer out a deal," Kirk said in a speech at a trade symposium hosted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection .
The remark came a day after European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht warned that the nearly 10-year-old Doha round of trade talks were at a difficult stage and there was "no reason to be optimistic" about the chances of success.
"We're still at the table," Kirk said. "There's an anxiety that we may not get there. But we think it would be a real shame if we weren't able to find a way to rationalize global trade and get a Doha deal that works for everyone."
Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said Kirk and De Gucht's comments show the "precarious" state of the talks one week before the World Trade Organization is due to release new draft texts for the supposedly final stage of negotiations.
"I suspect there are last gasp efforts right now to try to avoid another breakdown," Schott said, referring to the numerous setbacks and missed deadlines in the talks since they were launched in late 2001 in Doha, Qatar.
"It's very hard to see how there would be a positive response to the secretariat's overtures unless there was some prospect that the major trading nations were going to offer more at the negotiating table," Schott said.
China, India and Brazil don't bear all the responsibility for the state of the talks, but each has its own reasons for resisting U.S. pressure for deeper market openings than they have offered so far, Schott said.
China argues it has already opened its market more than most developing countries, while Brazil and to some extent India worry about the competition their manufacturers will face from China if they make deep tariff cuts, he said.
Brazil, a major agricultural exporter, also has complained about the amount of farm subsidy and tariff cuts the United States and the European Union are willing to make in exchange for the new market openings they want.
Kirk said developing countries often complain that the United States and the European Union have long dominated the process of establishing the international rules for trade.
"We've gladly opened that door and shown them we have three more chairs: one for China, one for India and one for Brazil."
"No three economies have benefited more from trade liberalization over the last 10 years than China, India and Brazil. That's a good thing," Kirk said.
"But with that blessing comes a responsibility, and we believe China, India and Brazil have the opportunity to find out just how bloody awful it is to bring these things to a close," Kirk said.
Despite De Gucht's bleak assessment of the talks, Kirk said he thought substantial progress had been made over the past 18 months in persuading other WTO members that a draft July 2008 deal did not do enough to open markets to more trade.

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