Despite Asia’s remarkable economic growth and poverty reduction, 1.9 billion people — amounting to 60 per cent of developing Asia’s population — still live on less than a dollar a day. Clearly, fighting poverty is developing Asia’s most important challenge. Apart from poverty, the challenges facing Asia today are mainly unemployment, financial fragility, fiscal deficit, growing public debt, infrastructure bottlenecks, inadequate private investment. The challenges in the political and security arena are in the form of instability of the governments and threat of terrorism to the security and integrity of the Asian countries.

The solution lies in closer economic co-operation and democratization of the polity. We need a WTO kind of framework for Asia which would make progressive integration and intensified economic exchanges possible among Asian countries.

India has already taken steps in this direction by signing bilateral free trade agreements with countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. There is one in the pipeline with Singapore. Also India has taken lead to form free trade areas at sub-regional level in the SAARC by forming SAFTA or South Asian Free Trade Area embracing neighbouring countries. The scope can be extended to cover the areas of investment and monetary mechanisms.

India has actively endeavoured to forge closer economic ties through regional organizations like BIMSTEC, ASEAN and APEC. Mekong Ganga Project and the project for building of Asian Highway are good examples of enhancement of co-operation through such organizations.

Stability of the political conditions is the most important need for building uninterrupted economic growth. The main threat to the stability stems from the institutional terrorism — some of it supported and even sponsored by individual countries. India has been victim of it like many other Asian countries. India has supported the efforts through the UN resolutions on the subject and would like to work actively with other Asian countries in this regard. This forum can contribute substantially by recommending concrete steps for co-operation to curb the threat from terrorism. We can take a pledge to work against terrorism at this conference.

The other threat to stability comes from the lack of democratization in the process of governance in many Asian countries. This forum can suggest ways and means not only to liberalize trade and investment, but also to ensure smooth and free flow of information, promotion of tourism, exchanges in the field of education and people to people level contacts in the fields of sports, culture among Asian countries.

Over the past four decades much of Asia has made remarkable social and economic progress. Asia has shown to the world that it can overcome various difficulties and come out from crises brighter and stronger. Today, there is greater peace, stability and security in the region, and the vision of an integrated, prosperous, poverty-free, and peaceful Asia is no longer a dream, but an achievable goal. Political parties can ensure that development in the region will be pro-poor and equitable, both within and among countries, and open to the rest of the world.

India will do its utmost to realize this vision, together with all of you, not only for the good of Asia, but for the peace and prosperity of the world as a whole.