Defending the Modi government’s decision on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) front, President Pranab Mukherjee has said that the developed world tended to forget about others once they “get their pound of flesh”.
Briefing presspersons on his five-day visit to Norway and Finland, the President said on Thursday night that the WTO decisions at Bali had to be taken as an integral package. “Trade facilitation and food security are closely interlinked,” he stated.
Mr. Mukherjee said that none of his Finnish interlocutors raised the Nokia tax issues during his discussions in Helsinki. The President returned to India on Friday morning.
His interlocutors both in Oslo and Helsinki wanted to know more about the “Make in India” suggestion that has come from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There was a feeling that India had immense potential and was now an important investment destination.
On the crisis gripping Ukraine, Mr. Mukherjee said India’s position was that it did not like interference by a “third country in another country”.
An issue of dispute, the President told reporters, needed to be settled not by the use or threat of use of force, but all outstanding issues needed to be addressed through the mechanism of dialogue.
Asked about the significance of his stepping across the Arctic Circle, the President said India’s involvement with the Arctic Council as an observer was a positive development. The Council he said would be dealing with the emerging issues of our time, including the challenge of climate change.
