India calls for new global partnership to boost economic growth

By Arul Louis

United Nations, Oct 6 (IANS) India has called for a new global partnership to stimulate the weak economic growth through long-term investments in critical sectors and enhancing trade.

The global economic recovery is only progressing slowly and growth is weaker than expected while risks persist, Ashish Sinha, a First Secretary in India's UN Mission, told the General Assembly committee dealing with economic and financial matters on Thursday.

In this scenario, there was great need for a renewed global partnership to promote longer-term investment, including foreign direct investment, in critical sectors such as transportation, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and information and communications technology, he said.

"Policies for enhancing economic growth and growth inducing investment should be our top priority," he said.

In July, the World Bank projected the global growth rate for this year to be just 2.7 per cent, marginally up from last year's 2.4 per cent.

Sinha said: "The new partnership should also identify effective mechanisms to mobilise additional resources for financing sustainable development."

He recommended trade liberalisation and integration into the global economy as a way to spur growth in developing countries citing the case made by Arvind Panagariya, the former vice chairperson of the Niti Aayog, in his keynote address to the committee.

"Open trade is a means to create employment and contribute to achievement of SDGs (UN's Sustainable Development Goals) through greater economic activity and revenues," he said.

"Developing countries derive significant benefit from an open, fair, rule-based, predictable, and non-discriminatory trading and financial system."

Sinha gave an assurance of India's support for a multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) "as the cornerstone".

"India believes that multilateral negotiations such as those envisaged under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) are aimed at addressing existing inequities in the trading system and must be given high priority," he said.

The DDA the WTO negotiation launched in Doha in 2001 aimed at lowering trade barriers and revising trading rules to mainly benefit developing countries.

Sinha said that additional measures such as improving rural infrastructure were needed to help integrate rural households into world markets.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

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