New Delh, July 07: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday blamed developed countries for the global economic slowdown and called for a coordinated response to deal with the challenges.
“This has not been a crisis of our making, but we have had to bear its consequences. The slowdown in the advanced economies has affected our exports, strengthened protectionist sentiments and impacted credit and capital flows,” Singh said before leaving for the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy.
“We would therefore like to see a concerted and well-coordinated global response to address systemic failures and stimulate the real economy,” he added.
The developing countries were worst-affected by climate change that was brought on by two centuries of industrial activity and high-consumption lifestyles in the developed world, Singh said.
“They (industrial economies) have to bear this historical responsibility,” he said, adding that India would participate in international negotiations based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Bali Action Plan.
The Indian leader is scheduled to attend outreach meetings of the G8, a grouping of the eight wealthiest and most industrialized countries, and meetings of the G5, a group of five top emerging economies which includes China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa.
Singh is expected to have bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama and leaders from Germany, Britain and Italy.
The Indian premier said the summit would be an occasion for projecting India’s views on major global issues relating to the world economic crisis and its impact on development, food-security and climate change, international trade negotiations and reforms of international institutions.
Singh will also attend the Major Economies Forum on Trade Matters and Climate Change as well as a meeting on food security organized by Italy, in which several African nations are due to participate.
Singh said issues of food security, energy security and climate change were closely interlinked.
“They have to be approached as a single undertaking if we are to give meaning to the concept of sustainable development,” he said.i
—Agencies