‘Will consider public sentiment while making decision’
PUNE, Feb 23: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today virtually dismissed the idea of helping Pakistan to come out of its economic mess.
Speaking at the annual Asia Economic Dialogue organised by the External Affairs Ministry here, Jaishankar said he will consider the local public sentiment while making a big decision.
“I would have a pulse (on) what do my people feel about it. And I think you know the answer,” he said.
Pakistan is grappling with an economic crisis and has not been successful in getting an agreement from multilateral institutions either. In the recent past, India has helped neighbours like Sri Lanka as it struggled to come out of its economic woes and regularly helps others in the neighbourhood as well.
However, when it comes to Pakistan, the fundamental issue impacting the New Delhi-Islamabad ties is terrorism, Jaishankar said, adding that one must not be in denial of this problem.
“No country is ever going to come out of a difficult situation and become a prosperous power if its basic industry is terrorism.
“Just as a country has to fix its economic issues, a country has to fix its political issues too, a country has to fix its social issues,” he said without naming Pakistan.
Jaishankar also made it clear that it is in nobody’s interest to see a country get into severe economic difficulties, and that too a neighbour.
Once a country is in the throes of a serious economic problem, it has to make policy choices to get out of it, the career diplomat-turned-politician said, adding that others cannot solve it for the country.
The world can only provide options and support systems, Jaishankar said, making it clear that Pakistan will have to make “tough choices”.
He said India has also undergone the same challenges several times in its modern history, with the last one being 30 years ago with the balance of payment crisis.
Meanwhile, Jaishankar said ever since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the country’s approach to the neighbouring countries has undergone a perceptible change and also reminded all about the Prime Minister’s decision to call heads of state for the swearing-in function to start a new relationship.
Citing the case of Maldives, he said India’s help in the recent past includes the Greater Male project and also added that he was present at the foundation stone laying event a few weeks ago.
India is also buying or selling power with many of its neighbours, Jaishankar said, adding that it recently started buying power from Nepal.
Going forward, the country is also mulling to up its focus on education and healthcare spending in the neighbourhood, Jaishankar said.
He also assured that India will also be using its G-20 presidency to give a voice to the problems of the ‘global south’ and asserted that India is the best-placed country to do that.
The Prime Minister and his top ministers have spoken to 125 countries in the past month in India’s effort to be an effective voice of the global south, Jaishankar said.
Speaking at the same event, Maldives’ Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer said climate finance is a big challenge and expected help to flow through on the commitment at the earliest. His counterpart from Bhutan, Lyonpo Namgay Tshering said an easing of global financial conditions is also the need of the hour.
Jaishankar said there are multiple second and third-order impacts of the major world events and policy decisions, which India will be flagging to the world as part of its G-20 presidency.
The EAM also said that the G-20, with nearly 200 events across the country, is a marketing of India to influential people across the world by exposing them to cultural and socio-economic changes taking place in the country.
The businesses should share equal responsibility for the skewed trade balance with China, Jaishankar said, blaming India Inc for not developing sufficient sourcing capabilities within the country.
Stating that the Government’s flagship ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative pitching for self-reliance is a corrective attempt, Jaishankar warned that “massive external exposure” puts our national security at threat.
With some experts, including former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan pitching India to focus more on services, Jaishankar said neglecting manufacturing will lead to damaging India’s “strategic future”.
In 2022, India-China trade touched USD 135.98 and New Delhi’s trade deficit with Beijing crossed the USD 100 billion mark for the first time despite frosty bilateral ties.
Terming the challenge posed by the trade imbalance with China as very serious and formidable, the career bureaucrat turned politician said the responsibility here is not just of the government, but it is an equal responsibility of businesses as well.
“Indian corporates haven’t developed the kind of backward (linkages), vendor supplies, components and parts, ingredients and intermediates that should be supporting us,” he said.
Acknowledging that the Government is also to be blamed for such a trade imbalance, Jaishankar said the self-reliance motto is a corrective step taken by the administration after the flaws that got exposed during the COVID pandemic.
“Atmanirbhar Bharat… it is not a slogan. It is actually a messaging to (the) industry, to people saying, please, what you can source from India, you have an obligation to source, not as a moral obligation. Our national security is at threat if you have this kind of massive external exposure,” the career diplomat-turned-politician said.
With schemes like production-linked incentives (PLI), the purpose is to bring back the manufacturing prowess in the country, he said, arguing that a major economy like India cannot be service-centric and neglect manufacturing.
“Those who do down manufacturing, they are actually damaging this country’s strategic future,” he said, adding that significant industrial capacity is a prerequisite for national security requirements.
Jaishankar also said that under the previous UPA Government, the country was contemplating signing a free trade agreement with China in 2006 when the ties with Beijing were better and we looked forward to an optimistic future where market access improved.
However, India did not get the market access it had hoped to get and also lost out on businesses which moved to China and that too under Chinese ownership, making it a flawed market.
He said that there is a “deep strategic intent” behind the “misleading rhetoric” of ‘Asia for Asians’, and asked all not to fall for what is essentially designed to appeal to “very primitive chauvinism” in people.
Asia is growing faster because it is global, and it will continue to grow till it is diverse and multipolar, Jaishankar said, asserting that the responsibility of ensuring the same falls on India. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
