By IANS,
New Delhi : “All-out efforts” are needed to put the country’s economy back on high growth trajectory, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Tuesday, calling upon Indian envoys around the world to tune their diplomacy to this effort.
In an impassioned speech to 112 Indian ambassadors who have gathered here for a five-day conclave to debate foreign policy and security challenges, Manmohan Singh emphasised the “integral link of India’s foreign policy with domestic policies, particularly economic policy”.
“He noted that the country’s foreign policy should be aimed at addressing the challenges of mass poverty, ignorance and disease in the country, which were the primary concern of the Indian state and polity,” said a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The prime minister said that despite the global economic slowdown, the Indian economy was still the second fastest growing economy in the world.
But he cautioned against complacency and stressed that “all-out efforts were needed to put the economy back on a sustained high rate of growth if the challenges of poverty and disease were to be effectively addressed.”
In this context, the prime minister identified three pillars of India’s global engagement that included sustaining capital inflows to supplement domestic investment, leveraging access to high-end technologies around the world for development and ensuring that the country’s growth is not constrained by scarcity of natural resources.
All these require active engagement by India in all multilateral forums, and in the shaping of the world order, whether in the field of trade, international finance or the international economy, the prime minister said.
Insularity is not an option, the prime minister said, according to a statement from his office.
“India should play a role in the international arena in a manner that makes a positive contribution to finding solutions to major global challenges, whether in the field of trade or climate change,” he said.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday assured that the Indian economy will manage to grow by over six percent this fiscal despite the global slowdown and delayed monsoons.