India has borne economic crisis well: Manmohan

India has borne economic crisis well: Manmohan
The Financial Express, June 18, 2009, Page 12

Press Trust of India

On board PM's special aircraftIndia has not remained unaffected by the global economic crisis but has "borne" it well, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wedenesday.

Returning home after attending the summits of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Brazil-Russia-India-China (Bric), where the global financial crisis was the main theme, Singh said there was a need for reforming the present systems of global governance and international financial system.

The PM hoped the Bric would not remain a "talk-shop" and the member countries would work together so that their voices are heard in the global arena.

"We live in times of rapid economic changes when the Bric economies are a factor of stability and growth," Singh told accompanying journalists while returning from Yekaterinburg in Russia.

"India has borne the global economic crisis well, though we have not been unaffected," he said.

Talking about the Bric Summit, he said the leaders discussed the need to intensify cooperation among the four nations, international economic downturn and how to prepare for the forthcoming G-8 and G-20 Summits.

To a question, he said, "We (Bric nations) are responsible for 40% of the world GDP and if all the (member) nations join together, I think our voice will be heard in the global councils."

Singh said the Bric nations had decided that their foreign ministers and central bank governors would meet and with the help of experts, examine the further steps that should be taken to enhance coordination of member countries.

"There was general agreement on the need to continue our coordination in Bric on economic matters, to seek implementation of G-20 decisions of interest to developing countries and reform of present systems of global governance and the international financial system," he said.

To a question about demands for replacing dollar as global currency, Singh said such ideas were aired but no concrete conclusion emerged at the SCO Summit.

"It was agreed that these are highly complex issues replacing dollar by other currency, national or SDRs. And it was felt that this matter required proper examination by our foreign ministers and governors of central banks," he said.

On SCO, Singh said India looks forward to increased functional cooperation with the grouping which comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan and form the extended neighbourhood of India.