Manmohan Singh is wise and marvelous: Barak Obama
Expressing satisfaction over the outcome of the G-20 summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ruled out the possibility of India approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to grapple with the economic crisis.
India has nearly 250 billion dollars in reserve and “we don’t visaualise any need to go to the IMF,’’ he said at a press conference at the conclusion of his three-day visit here to attend the G-20 summit.
Hailing the achievements of the UPA government, the PM said the ruling coalition had ensured an average economic growth of 8.6 per cent per annum during the last 5 years.
When it was pointed out to him that all countries would now come under the IMF surveillance, the Prime Minister shot back: as far as developing countries are concerned, they have been under excessive survelliance as compared to developed nations. The latest step will induce the IMF to keep surveillance on the developed world from where the (economic) crisis originated.’’
“We must tackle the crisis in a way which does not create other problems for the future. For instance, protectionism or restrictions on the free flow of trade and persons would be counter-productive, he said’’ Replying to a question, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he could guarantee that the Lok sabha polls would be free and fair and expressed confidence that the Congress will emerge as the single largest party.
Earlier the Prime Minister had his first substantive meeting with President Barack Obama, who hailed India as a ‘global power’, critical to meeting the challenges of the 21st century, and said the US was ready to work with New Delhi to counter the forces of terrorism.
The two leaders, who had a nearly hour-long meeting soon after the conclusion of the G-20 summit here, resolved to give a new direction to relations between the world’s largest democracy and the world’s oldest democracy.
The 46-year-old first African American President shook hands with Manmohan Singh and posed for photographers with the Indian leader, before they went into their meeting.
“The rise of India is attributed to you. Our relations with India are very cordial. I express my admiration for you. I look forward to visiting India. By the time I end up talking to you, I can call you up as a friend.’’ Obama told Manmohan Singh. He underlined that there was a lot of scope for cooperation between the two countries in various areas, including science and technology, climate change and energy.
The Indian Prime Minister said the people of India and he personally had enormous respect for Obama, especially because of the values held by him. ‘’You are the symbol of hope,’’ he told the American president, adding a warm welcome awaited Obama and his family in India. Asked if the issue of Afghanistan and Pakistan came up during the meeting, he said: “We did discuss the developments in Afghanistan. We agreed that our two countries must work together to counter the forces of terror.’’
On whether the controversial H-1B visa issue also came up during the meeting with Obama, Manmohan Singh said: “I raised protectionism in general, not H-1 B visa in particular, and both of us agreed to do everything in our powers to roll back protectionism.’’
Asked if he was satisfied with actions taken by Islamabad to book the masterminds of the 26/11 attacks, he said: “We expect Pakistan to do all that is required to bring to book the culprits of the attacks. We have given them answers to all their questions. The ball is now in Pakistan’s court.” Pakistan has to convince the international community that it was sincere in its statements that it would not allow the misuse of its territory for anti-India activities.
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