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.