The EU can leverage opportunities which India offers in knowledge-based industries if it allows free mobility of skills as it does in the case of movement of capital and services, Prime Minister Vajpayee told the closing session of the third Indo-EU economic summit here today.Making an impassioned plea for Europe to ensure a level playing field to the developing world he called upon EU to dismantle high agricultural subsidies which harm their growth prospects.Addressing the summit organised by the CII, FICCI and the Confederation of Danish Industries, soon after his arrival from a two-day visit to Cyprus, Vajpayee said India has a ‘‘serious problem’’ with non-tariff barriers against developing country products.Vajpayee reminded EU members that cooperation between India and EU could not be viewed without reference to their shared commitment to build a world free of disparities with equal opportunities for all nations.Talking in a lighter vein, Vajpayee said it had become fashionable to liken economies to real and mythical creatures like elephants, tigers and dragons.The Indian economy, he said, is often likened to the elephant. ‘‘Elephants may take time to get moving. But once they start moving, the momentum is difficult to divert, stop or reverse. And when they move, the forest shakes,’’ he observed.Reacting to comments about the pace of India’s reforms Vajpayee told EU states to ponder that the sub-continental size which made India an attractive market also accommodated a diversity of perspectives, interests and needs.He said Europe had also confronted the reality of its diversity during its debates on integration, enlargement, single currency and common foreign and security policy. Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen said while earlier the India-Europe ties revolved around development aid from Europe to India, it was now based on mutual interdependence. He agreed with India that it would be in nobody’s interest to marginalise the developing countries.
