India is inspiring European nations: Hungarian PM

Gurgaon, Jan 16 : Visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany today said that India's success in preserving its culture and national pride, while modernising itself is acting as a source of encouragement for the European economies.

"We are using India and China's success as an argument for encouraging new reforms shaping our own economies and societies," said Gyurcsany, while addressing the inaugural session of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Partnership Summit here.

Elaborating on the possibilities of partnership between India and Hungary, Gyurcsany said that both the countries have benefited from globalisation.

In the last five years the foreign trade turnover between the two countries has tripled. Opportunities for trade and investment exist in energy, food processing and IT sectors.

Sharing his country's experience on development, Gyurcsany emphasised on the need for greater focus on education, as it was the most effective tool against poverty.

In his address, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said that paring income diversities is the biggest challenge for India.

The country today has 300 million people living on less that one dollar a day, which is more than the number put together for all the LDCs (Least Developed Countries).

With globalisation "the issues of inclusive growth transcend national boundaries" and hence partnerships between countries are important to address the challenge.

Multilateral agreements have to ensure inclusive growth in developing economies. A good WTO agreement, he said: "is one which would lead to healthy economies in developing countries."

ANI