Kamalnath urges early conclusion of negotiations in Doha round

Bangalore, Jan 17: Union Minsiter for Commerce and Industry Kamalnath today warned that any delay in the outcome of the Doha Round of trade negotiations of the World Tradce Organisation will result in serious cost to developing countries.

Speaking at the inaugural function of the 13th CII Parntership Summit here he said ''any negotiation that ignores the livelihoods of millions of people can never be successful'' and wanted both developed and developing countries to develop mindsets keeping in tune with changed conditions.

Stating that there was an urgency too use the forces of globalistion for grater common good to reach the marginalised he said at the same time there was need for systematic calibration so that costs and pains of the globalisation process were minimised.

''Within this formula, the needs of the poorest of the poor have to be kept uppermost in our minds'' He said the Doha developound round would have serious consequences for global trade and recalled the remarkable solidarity and unity shown by India along with other developing countries in the G-20,G-33, NAMA-11, ACP African Group, CARICOM small vulerable economies, leased Developing countries to prevent any undermining of their paramount and common objective of development.

Mr Kamalnath said as a home of world's largest number of poor people India has a special responsibility in building the partnership between nations to combat ills of iniquitious growth and development. He said India was committed to playing its rightful rule in ensuring a rule based multilateral trade system. It was moving apacewith its reform programme which was being widened and deepened to provide huge opportunities to business from around the world.

He said ''FDI regime is getting progressively liberalised, new investments are being sought across different sectors, the regulatory mechanisms are being strengthened and voerseas invetment in key areas of infrastructure are being made most welcome''.

He said Indian economy would continue to witness unprecedented levels of growth and the country would play its role as a major engine of global economic growth full responsibility. The eleventh five year plan has been formulated with high, inclusive growth as the bedrock of the country's economic development.

He said since the last partnership summit in Kolkata, India had continued its onward march towrds growth and development, through a renewed focus on external engagement. He recalled summit level interactions with the european union,United STates, China and Japan.

Many new initiatives have emerged and many new paths have been forged through these interactions. The range of domains included not only tradce and investments, but also energy, environment, people to people contacts, science and technology besides a host of other topics.

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in his speech said theSTate continued to be the fastest growing states in the Indian economy.The government accorded great importance to the views of stakeholdersincluding industry in formulating and implementing innovative ideas andpolicies. The progressive industrial policies over the years had helpedKarnataka as a preferred destination for investments. During lastfiscal, the state had bettered the average national GDP growth of 8.4per cent to clock an impressive 8.7 per cent SDP.

''Due to ourindustry friendly policies, country's largest companies had theirheadquarters in Bangalore that has emerged as the Silicon Valley of thecountry. Other knowledge sectors such as biotechnology and pharmacyindustry has also found fertile ground for development. Many of theglobe's top multinationals have also set up design and innovationcenters in the state,'' he said His government was keen to build on thestate's advantages to be a leader of growth in Indian economy he added.

Bangalore, as one of the fastest growing cities in the world,faced infrastructure constraints and the government was givingparticular attention to solve the bottlenecks by providing moreinfrastructure resources, he added.

In his welcome speech CIIPresident R Seshasayee said India's external engagement was takingplace at a time when clear Geo-Economics was overwhelming geo-politics,which was a zero-sum game. Geo-economics was not a zero-sum game andcountries in which countries engage and leverage each other's economicsfor gain of both. This was the guiding spirit of the Partnership Summit.

Worldtrade was not mere agreements, not only about tariff rates or formulaebut was an act of forging partnerships to share the risks and rewardsequitably. The partnership summit would address some of these issuesand shape the discourse on how India could play a part in the future ofthe globalised world. The 13th such platform of debate, the summit hadover the years, proved that the confluence ideas presented here had ameaningful impact on the future direction of international interaction.

UNI