On Indian self-perception in the world arena - on the challenges and opportunities of the currentinternational situation
Despite the many and serious challenges that we faced at independence 56 years ago, India has taken largestrides on the road to development. We are today the fourth largest economy in the world on purchasing powerparity. We are at the vanguard of the technologies, which drive the knowledge economy of today. Our large andexpanding middle class not only provides the skilled manpower for a wide range of scientific, technologicaland managerial requirements, but also constitutes a huge consumer market. This economic resurgence, coupledwith our independent foreign policy, has given India a standing and recognition, which enable it to play anactive and positive role on the world stage.
We still face many challenges, including the need to eliminate poverty and illiteracy, and to create a societyin which complete equality of opportunity can be assured. We have achieved significant successes in thiseffort, but the problems are large, and will take effort and patience to resolve fully.
The world has also changed significantly in the past century. Colonialism and the Cold War have both passedinto history. Democracy is spreading across the globe. The effort to eradicate war, disease and hunger isgaining ground, but more work is required. We need to have a more concerted global effort to fight pandemicssuch as AIDS, TB and Malaria. We must focus our energies at making the international trading and financialsystem more supportive of the needs of developing countries. Most importantly, our world is increasingly underthreat from non-state actors, such as terrorists. Democracies like India and Turkey are particularly at riskfrom these forces. For these reasons, it is important for like-minded countries such as ours to increase ourcooperation in all fora.
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On India-Turkey relations
Turkey, like India, is an ancient nation, with a splendid history of varied contributions to humancivilization. The interaction between Turkey and India has lasted centuries. The Mughal Dynasty, which ruledover India, traced its ancestry to a Turkish people. The imprint of Turkish culture and traditions istraceable in our music, architecture and history. The Sufi mystic, Mevlana Rumi, was an inspiration to poetsand thinkers in medieval India. In fact, the Sufi movement was also influenced by the Hindu mystic tradition.In the modern age, Kemal Ataturk was an inspiring figure for our national movement. These are some of theimages, which arise in my mind, when I think of Turkey.
Based on our common traditions and experiences, our two countries share a similar commitment to democracy andsecularism. Turkey is situated at the junction of Central Europe, Central Asia and West Asia. We are locatedbetween West Asia, Central Asia and East Asia. Our geopolitical location gives us shared concerns in theregion, as well as some common opportunities.
There is considerable scope for our two countries to work together in a variety of fields. This includescooperation in economic and commercial areas, science and technology, culture and people to people ties. Weshould also increase cooperation between our businessmen in third countries. Our bilateral economic andcommercial relations have been growing steadily, although, at over US $ 600 million, our bilateral trade doesnot match the existing potential.
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On how India views the Islamic World
India has the second largest Muslim population in the world. This community is an equal partner with othersin the political, economic and social life of our country. The long tradition of Islam in India is the basisof our strong friendship with the Islamic world, based on cultural affinities, mutual respect and mutuallybeneficial cooperation.
On Kashmir, Nuclear-proliferation and Indo-Pak relations
As we have said many times before, the only way to resolve the issues in our region is through peacefuldialogue. We have been ready to have a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan on all issues including Jammu& Kashmir. But for any dialogue to be meaningful, terrorism must end, and the infrastructure promoting ithas to be dismantled. Meanwhile, we have achieved significant successes in strengthening the democratic anddevelopmental processes in the state. Only a few months ago, the state elections were held, and they witnessedan impressive voter turnout of nearly 45%, which was a creditable achievement in the context of terroristpressure to sabotage the election process.
On nuclear proliferation, India has consistently maintained a principled position. We developed a nucleardeterrent in response to our security imperatives. Our nuclear assets are firmly under civilian control. Wehave adopted a doctrine of no first use of nuclear weapons. We believe that it is highly irresponsible to evencontemplate the use of nuclear weapons as an instrument of war. Equally, India does not transfer nuclearweapons materials or technologies to any country.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, India has been consistently extending its hand of friendship to that country.I did so again, in spite of the fact of continuing cross-border terrorism. We believe that the two countriesshould actively promote mutually beneficial economic cooperation, cultural exchanges and people-to-peoplecontacts, so that the present atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion can be transformed into a more cordialenvironment, congenial for the resolution of hard bilateral issues. Of course, this approach has a chance onlyif cross-border terrorism ends.
On what Turkey could learn from India in outsourcing
Economic enterprise and high technology are both fast-moving and fast-changing skills. No country or peoplehave a monopoly over them. However, we are willing to share our experiences in fields where we have recordedsome successes. In some sectors, India has become a favourite location for outsourcing. The automobileindustry and pharmaceuticals are examples of this. Gemstone and diamond processing are traditional areas ofIndia’s competitive advantage, while Information Technology is a much newer one.
We are willing to cooperate with Turkey in these areas. Equally, there is a lot that we can learn from Turkey.Your economic reforms began a full ten years before ours did, and we can benefit from your experiences in thisregard.
