Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh8217;s four-day sojourn in Kuala Lumpur has brought India8217;s twin Asian challenges into sharp focus: trade liberalisation and China8217;s emerging primacy in the region. The very fact that India has been invited to the first East Asian Summit EAS amidst Asia8217;s growing expectations of a deeper partnership with Delhi is good news. But the bad news is that India does not yet have its Asian act together. Unless India8217;s economic and security policy makers wake up to address challenges on these fronts quickly, India could find itself increasingly marginalised in the rapidly evolving Asian dynamic.
Economic integration in Asia has begun to acquire momentum as the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations ASEAN brings down tariff barriers within the organisation and accelerates the negotiations on free trade arrangements with both China and Japan. That India has been out of sync with the trend came out into the open, if only inadvertently, when Commerce Minister Kamal Nath presented a list of no less than 1,414 items to be exempted from free trade with ASEAN. While India says it wants to implement a FTA with the ASEAN by 2007, its seriousness about the project is in grave doubt. Indian industry and its cohorts in the commerce ministry insist that domestic economic reforms must take place before free trade with ASEAN can be effected. Promising to make amends, Manmohan Singh insisted that Indian industry should get ready for competition and can no longer hide behind a protective wall. The quicker he gets the commerce ministry to ensure that Indian industry falls in line, the better it would be.
