India intends to stay engaged in Asia-Africa

India intends to stay engaged in Asia-Africa

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came on the second and last days of
the Asian-African Summit. His absence on the first day was most
noticeable not only because India has championed the cause of the
Third World, but also due to recent developments in India. Now
one of Asia's economic giants, India recently signed agreements
with long-time foes China and Pakistan, which will significantly
alter the geopolitics of Asia and the world. The prime minister
met with The Jakarta Post's Sabam Siagian and Endy M. Bayuni to
talk about the summit and India's role in Asia and in the world.
Following are excerpts from the interview and from earlier
written questions and answers:

What is the significance of your presence here?

For me personally this is a sentimental journey. It reminds me
of the glorious chapter in India's foreign policy. Jawaharlal
Nehru, president Sukarno, Chou En Lai, Mohammad Natser and Ho Chi
Minh worked hard to get rid of colonialism, to dismantle the
structure that imperialism had created and give a sense of unity
and purpose to the countries of the Third World.

What do you hope to see achieved at this summit?

Today, a different struggle continues for the people of Asia
and Africa. It is our expectation that the summit will lead to
the establishment of a new partnership between the continents of
Asia and Africa, which would enable us to collectively address
the challenges of poverty eradication, development and growth.
Political freedom has to be complemented by economic development
if we are to eliminate hunger, disease and illiteracy. Collective
action can help us address these common problems.

How does India plan to follow up the results of this meeting?

India intends to stay engaged by sharing experiences -- gained
from our own development process -- with nations in Asia and
Africa. Human resource development holds the key to employment
and wealth creation, particularly in this age of globalization.
This has been our strategy and we have laid particular emphasis
on training and skills development as we globalize. We have
extended technical assistance valued at about US$1 billion. We
stand ready to do more. We are also ready to extend lines of
credit to our friends in the two continents.

With the emergence of China and India, we see a different Asia
from the one we saw in 1955. How do you view this?

We need to look at the whole thing from a different
perspective. Globalization is a reality. Developments in science
and technology have created opportunities that were unthinkable,
even two decades ago. We have to put into place the
instrumentalities, to take advantage of the forces unleashed by
developments in science and technology.

There is no single path that will serve the interests of all
countries, but we have to develop compatibilities. We have to
ensure that the globalization processes are harmonized with the
domestic requirements of strengthening the inner cohesion of our
societies. So efficiency is important to get going in this world
but the quest for social equity, the quest for social justice, is
equally important if plural societies are to be kept together

During your recent meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Wen
Jiabao, did you agree on the instrumentalities, so that the
China-India war of 1962 will not be repeated?

I am pretty sure that chapter is over. We have together agreed
on political parameters and guiding principles for the final
resolution of the boundary dispute. We have also agreed that,
pending that final settlement, nothing should be done that will
affect the peace and tranquility in the line of control. We have
also agreed that our two countries will move forward to determine
the actual line of control, and that we should not allow these
differences to come in the way of positive interaction in
economy, culture, science and technology.

We have declared that we are strategic partners in peace and
prosperity. India and China relations are evolving in the right
direction, which will strengthen peace, progress and prosperity
-- not only in Asia, but in the world as a whole

Are you not worried that China is at the same time building
access ports in Pakistan and Myanmar?

We are now taking another look at our relations with Pakistan.
When President (Pervez) Musharaf was in New Delhi, we determined
jointly that we would make sincere efforts to resolve all our
outstanding issues bilaterally. We will carry forward the process
of reconciliation with Pakistan. My effort is to ensure that
India's relations with all its neighbors are excellent ... so
that we can devote all our resources and all our energy to
fighting mass poverty and disease, which still afflict millions
and millions of people in our country

When Asia's two economic giants join forces, should the rest
of Asia be worried?

Our emergence as a growth pole will be a positive help to
other countries. I believe India and China, which are growing at
a fast pace, will create demands and markets for a large number
of other Asian countries. Our development will bring up the level
of development in other Asian countries.

Our Look East policy is now firmly embedded -- that this is
the path that is essential to pursue to realize our development
goals. We want to work with countries of ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations), particularly Indonesia as the largest
economy in ASEAN. We have very close relations and we want to
expand these relations in every possible way.

Indian culture is an inseparable part of Indonesian customs.
But India's influence stops there. There has been a dearth of
contact in other significant areas, particularly politics and
economics. What are the reasons or impediments for this?

It's quite natural that our cultures and values are closely
related, bearing in mind the history of the civilizational
contacts between India and Indonesia, which span over 2000 years.
From that perspective, variations in intensity of relations over
short spells are not very significant. What is important is that
today we are Asia's largest pluralistic democracies. The focus of
governance in democracies is to meet popular aspirations and to
ensure that economic growth is accompanied by equity and social
justice. Both our countries are engaged in meeting this
challenge. In fact, there has been considerable expansion of our
trade, economic and investment relations over the past few years.