India's economic growth can have 'ripple effect': EAM

New Delhi, Mar 16 (UNI) India today said its economic growth can have ''ripple effect'' in the region and asked SAARC countries to share its progress through better allround cooperation including in the fight against terrorism.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his address at the Indian Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), while expressing India's firm commitment to SAARC, said while individual countries would have to make these choices, India firmly believed that closer economic and developmental cooperation offered immense benefits to all sides.

''Our growing economy can create a ripple effect in the region and our neighbours can and should participate in this process with a view to sharing in economic progress and prosperity,'' he said .

In his speech at the International Seminar on ''Economic Security for Peace and Development in South Asia,'' Mr Mukherjee said South Asian countries would have to recognise the potential for transforming their economic conditions and, together with other Asian countries, play a key role in global economy and the development of human civilisation in the 21st century.

It was imperative for the countries of this region to make joint efforts and make the best use of the complementarities of the region as a whole to avail of the positives of globalisation, he added.

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