India for strong relations with Asian, Oceania

New Delhi, Nov 23: Drawing attention of the global community to the huge potential of the Indian economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said there is tremendous scope for creating synergies in the Asian and Oceania region to launch a sustained process of vigorous growth.

''The dynamics governing global economic expansion have shown a distinct tilt towards Asia. It is with this belief that India began to effectively multiply its points of interface-- political and economic--with ASEAN and other countries in the region,'' Mr Chidambaram said in his address on Tuesday last at the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs in Willingdon.

Mr Chidambaram said growth of the Indian economy has been driven by the twin enginees of consumption and investment.

The East Asian success story in the decades immediately following the end of the Second World War was scripted essentially on the phenomenal success achieved in expanding low-cost exports. China took the same road and relied heavily on export-led growth but, after a few years, China supplemented its export-oriented growth with sustained rise in domestic investment, and stimulated effective demand from both domestic and external sources.

The Finance Minister said India, on the other hand, based its reforms on the strength of its domestic economy while leveraging the possibilities offered by the international economy. ''Demand and production of goods and services are driven by both domestic market and the growing purchasing power of the consumers.'' ''I would like to emphasise that India's interest in enhancing co-operation with New Zealand is not just a polite gesture. It is logical step towards establishing close economic relations with a country that has set benchmarks for transprency and good governance,'' he said.

UNI