By IANS
New Delhi : For the second time in two days, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Monday extended his support to “India’s bid for a permanent place” on an expanded UN Security Council and “India’s rightful place” in a new world order.
Delivering his keynote address at a breakfast event hosted by India’s leading business chambers at the Taj Mahal Hotel here, Brown – on a two-day India visit – said more must be done “to make our global institutions more representative”.
“And I support India’s bid for a permanent place – with others on an expanded United Nations Security Council.
“And I support changes to the IMF, World Bank and the G8 that reflect the rise of India and Asia,” he said.
Shortly after arriving here Sunday afternoon, Brown had said: “India should become a member of the UNSC”. He went on to say that “there is no future for any economic bloc that does not include India”.
Brown began Monday’s address saying, “It is amazing to see at first hand the astonishing pace of change in India…whose long march to liberty is now being matched by your rapid march towards prosperity.”
Referring to the “dramatic and seismic shifts in economy, culture andcommunication that are coming to revolutionise the global distribution of wealth, status, power and influence and creating the world anew”, Brown said this was nowhere reflected more starkly than in the rise of Asia and India.
“And out of these global flows of capital and global sourcing of goods and services, you – India – have been growing at over eight percent for four years and in less than three decades from now you will be the world’s third largest economy.”
Then, paying fulsome tributes to India’s growth story, he said: “In just 15 years you have doubled your national income, doubled your share of world exports, and lifted 20 million people out of poverty.
“And with your economy today growing by more than eight percent, you are already the fifth largest market for telecoms.
“The world’s fourth largest producer for medicines; The world’s third largest market for new aircraft orders; The world’s second largest producer of software applications; And are seen worldwide as a first choice for IT in the aerospace and automotive industries.”
Brown said that India and Britain, with a common heritage of democracy and record of progress in a globalised era, “can be leaders in securing and shaping this new global society”.