Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Tony Blair together sent out a clear message that globalisation and change were inevitable for any economy. Addressing the Sixth India-EU Business Summit in the capital today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh departed from his written speech and said, ‘‘Do not be fearful of change. Learn to live with it.’’ The Indian Prime Minister spoke after UK Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed the business delegation where he categorically said, ‘‘Globalisation is not a matter of debate’’ but was ‘‘a reality’’ and emphasised that despite the problems individual economies face, there was a need to ‘‘embrace and manage it’’. Blair, who was speaking as the president of the European Union (EU) said, as the ‘‘world becomes integrated, both sides (EU and India) will benefit, and hence it is better to open up rather than close down’’. He did clarify that the entire process of transition to an open economy ‘‘cannot be left to the market.’’. Voicing the same sentiment, Singh said, ‘‘Success belongs to those who adapt to the process of change’’. This was where he defined the role of the government and said, in order to ‘‘overcome the transitional pain that came with change, the government had the responsibility to smoothen the transformation process.’’ After having signed a wide ranging Joint Action Plan (JAP) earlier in the day on the economic ties between the two sides, Singh decribed that India-EU relationship had to be a ‘‘win-win’’ relationship. In fact, he urged the EU to take a relook at their non-tariff barriers for goods from India. Under the JAP initiatives to enhance trade and investment, energy security, IT and biotechnology would be taken. Under JAP, a high-level trade group would also suggest measures by the next summit to boost bilateral trade which currently is recognised as ‘‘below potential.’’ Singh said, ‘‘Our business community tells that EU markets have suddenly become difficult to access. While tariffs have come down, various non-tariffs barriers have come up. We need to address any such issue urgently.’’ Under JAP, it has been outlined that both sides will set up a working group on pharmaceuticals and biotech and hold experts’ meetings with the participation of European agency for evaluation of medicinal products on the EU regulatory approach on ayurveda products. On this issue, Singh specifically pointed to an EC directive on traditional and herbal medicines, which restricts India’s market access for these products in the EU. ‘‘This directive has the effect of having insurmountable barrier in respect of ayurveda products and said, ‘‘I hope our concerns will be noted and implementation delayed till our experts can discuss this as proposed in the Joint Action Plan.’’ From the Indian perspective, ‘‘We would welcome measures that could be pursued to our mutual advantage’’ and was therefore happy that both sides had formed Joint Working Group to iron out issues related to Sanitary and Phytosantiary (SPS) measures and tariff barriers to trade (TBT).’’ This group is expected to meet before the end of this year. Earlier, Blair reassured businessmen on the fears of a backlash on outsourcing by stating that, ‘‘outsourcing, in fact, helped in boosting the profits of local business houses.’’ He substantiated his argument by quoting examples of what happened within the EU when 10 more member countries were included in the Union. Despite the initial fears of free movement of cheaper labour, the end result was that economies were actually strenghtened. According to Blair, the future of the Europe rests on knowledge-based sectors and the two sides could move up the value chain through investments in science and technology. This is where he defined a new paradigm for the two sides and said, ‘‘India and EU must also work together in developing human capital.’’ As though in response, Singh in his speech stated ‘‘a brand conscious and yet price-sensitive market in search of new products and new technologies is waiting to be tapped. I sincerely hope you will not miss the bus.’’ Under JAP, the two sides have agreed to set an expert group to look into public-private partnerships. On this issue, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission said Europe had a long standing experience in this area which could be tapped by India. While he did acknowledge India’s need to attract $15 billion annually over the next 10 years, and that India was the top emerging market destination, he said state-level reforms were a key for this to be a success.
