Kamal Nath for cooperation among BRIC economies

New Delhi, June 13 (UNI) Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today called for closer economic ties between the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) describing them as natural leaders of the developing world.

While participating in the Plenary Session ''Challenges of Globalisation Competitive Advantages of Developing Countries'' at the 10th International Economic Forum at St Petersburg, the Commerce and Industry Minister said that BRIC countries should identify their trade barriers and take steps to overcome them.

He asked for profitable cooperation in the services sector, especially health care, financial services, IT and ITes. Mr Kamal Nath expressed the hope that BRIC countries would be the four most dominant economies by 2050 as predicted by Goldman Sachs Investment Bank.

About the strength of the Indian economy, the Minister noted that a growing number of multinationals from both the West and the East are investing in a big way in Research and Development and manufacturing facilities. In fact, some of them like Hyundai of South Korea and Suzuki of Japan have made India the hub of their exports of vehicles to the advanced countries.

He also highlighted the excellent progress in the area of information technology especially in software exports and providing ITes to corporates in US and UK. ''Our large scientific and technical work force, our institutes of technology, like IITs, have resulted in India becoming a leading technology and service resource provider for the world,'' he said.

Mr Kamal Nath called for developing the vision and the skills for managing globalisation. He noted that developing countries have to ensure that trade and rules of the multilateral system are fair and transparent; that they take into account our growing population, our indices of poverty and peculiar socio-economic requirement.

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