Policies of developed countries discriminatory, says Sinha

HAMBURG (Germany), MARCH 9. India today blamed the ``discriminatory'' policies of the developed nations for preventing the developing countries from becoming equal partners in sharing the benefits of globalisation.

``I regret to submit that India, and the majority of the developing world, are yet to become equal partners in global benefit sharing,'' the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, said here while speaking at a dinner meeting of the German Asia Pacific Business Association here.

``It is ironic that the countries that extol the virtues of free trade are the ones that are quickest to conceive imaginative modes of protection,'' Mr. Sinha said adding that without the build-up of appropriate and adequate resources in the poorer nations ``these countries will never have ample capacity for exploiting the benefits of globalisation''.

While acknowledging the concerns of the developed countries over the mounting poverty and unemployment in the developing world, Mr. Sinha said, ``if the concerns of the north are genuine in this respect, they should allow us to take part in global market exploitation in a fair and equitable way''.

``As the Finance Minister of a reforming economy from the developing world, I can unhesitatingly admit that our performance would have been much better had we received full cooperation from the advanced world.''

Asking the developed countries to play a significant role to bring the developing world to a compatible platform, Mr. Sinha said while the poorer nations were urged to open up their markets, ``they are, in turn, prevented entry in the markets of their richer counterparts''.

Without build-up of appropriate and adequate resources in the poorer nations, these countries would never have ample capacity for exploiting the benefits of globalisation, he said.

Mr. Sinha said countries such as India might have been somewhat slow to take off in certain respects, ``but whatever progress we (developing nations) have achieved has been qualitatively significant.'' The common man had shared the benefits of the progress and ``in this regard we would prefer to be slow but certain, rather than beginning with a bang and ending with whimper as has been the case with many nations''

Reform process

Mr. Sinha said India was committed to accelerate the privatisation process and restructuring of public enterprises and had attempted to deepen the reform process.

The Union Budget for 2001-02 has given more teeth to the growth and reform process by identifying and attacking the roadblocks to enhance economic activity. He said India had set an ambitious target of 9 per cent annual growth for the next two years to double our per capita income and halve poverty levels.

Stating that the NDA Government had targetted to spend $ 2 billions on road development this year, Mr. Sinha said the construction of 1500-km super highway - the golden quadrilateral - was progressing satisfactorily.

He said the Government was steadfastly pursuing reforms in the power sector and other areas, including the rural infrastructure.

- PTI

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