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Vajpayee calls for greater govt-business synergy

Special Correspondent in New Delhi

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today called for a " Dharma of partnership" between government and business.

Inaugurating the 15th India Economic Summit jointly organised by the World Economic Forum and the Confederation of Indian Industry, he said the time had come for a fundamentally new relationship between government and business.

The prime minister was addressing a vast gathering of Indian and foreign business delegates who have come down to Delhi for the three day summit that will end on December 7. He declared that the more business cared for the world, the more the world will reduce the risks and enhance the returns for business.

He asked why in the era of globalisation, governments alone must be held accountable for their actions and not business communities. Urging the business community to take responsibility for its actions, he said he was not referring to responsibility only to a limited number of shareholders. He stated that the very meaning of private ownership of business had undergone a fundamental change in our times. "In one way or the other, the public owns most contemporary businesses, even though it may not be directly involved in managing or running them," he said.

Vajpayee said that with the advent of the new millennium, the world was also moving to a new era of international economic relations. He pointed out that all nations find themselves more interdependent, something that was bound to increase in the coming century.

However, he warned that in an unequal world, such relationships tend to get distorted between the dominant and the dependent partners. "Such a relationship is unacceptable in an age that has come to accept freedom, democracy, equality, and plurality as universal values," he said.

In the circumstances, he said he regretted the failure at the World Trade Organisation in Seattle, pointing out that the need for a negotiated settlement of trade issues between nations, based not on dominance and unilateral advantage, is obvious. Hitting out at the developed countries' attempt to link trade with issues such as labour and environmental standards, he stated, "A spirit of consensus and avoidance of linking trade with extraneous issues is necessary to reach a settlement."

The prime minister pointed out that large and developing countries like India have core interests to protect. "India will do that," he stated, adding, "Rich nations should be sensitive to this reality. India looks forward with renewed anxiety to resumption of talks soon."

Vajpayee assured the business communities both from India and abroad that India is on the move and that his government's multi-faceted initiatives in the economic sphere is aimed at making India a better business proposition in the times to come. Vajpayee said, "Faster socio-economic development is the common cry all over India and are fully aware of the formidable challenges involved in reaching higher rates of growth and sustaining them over a prolonged period. Our government has begun to formulate appropriate policies, programmes and legislative initiatives." He revealed that the government will also move decisively in other important areas of reform such as power, telecom, ports, airports and highways. "We are determined to speedily increase the size of the export basket and also diversify its contents," he said.

Riding on the high brought about by the passage of the controversial Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Bill and Foreign Exchange Management Bill in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister said the government will now embark on other financial sector reforms that will improve the efficiency of banks, financial institutions and stock markets.

Vajpayee said the emphasis will now be on improving decision-making and implementation of policies and projects to make all these sectors more attractive to the private sector and foreign investment. Towards this end, the prime minister promised the business community that his government shall radically simplify rules and procedures that cause delays.

He added, "Our goal is to achieve a sustainable rate of growth of 7 to 8 per cent, which is necessary to make a quick and visible reduction in poverty, unemployment and regional imbalances. There is a growing multi-party consensus in India that the solution to many of our developmental problems lies in further economic reforms."

Once more emphasising his government's commitment to develop India's cutting edge in information technology, Vajpayee said his government will create the necessary conditions that will enable bright and enterprising young Indians to recreate the magic of Silicon Valley within India.

Earlier, welcoming the prime minister at the inaugural session of the IES, CII president Rahul Bajaj said that after a few years of political instability, India is now led by Vajpayee who has been re-elected by the people. "This is significant," he declared.

Yet, even more significant, said Bajaj, was that the Vajpayee government has a stable majority and therefore, business has a vision and a direction for the next five years, up to AD 2004.

He added that the good news for business, industry and foreign investors is that economic reforms and economic growth are clearly on top of the government's agenda. "We are tired of saying India has a great potential," he stated, "We want that potential to be achieved in reality. The future will be rosier and give us hope if our past and our track record are something to be proud of.''

He too echoed the government line that while the failure at Seattle was regrettable, it was better than having a bad agreement, and condemned the move to link trade with labour and environmental standards.

WEF founder-president Klaus Schwab insisted that the world was looking at India's future, not its past. He said the future world would be dominated by knowledge, a transition as great as the industrial revolution and whose implications are far deeper than that of the industrial revolution.

He said that knowledge and entrepreneurs would determine future winners from losers in the knowledge revolution, also known as the digital age. "India invented the zero, hence it already has a head start," he said.

He warned that in the coming years, it was not the uniqueness of a product that would ensure its success but the speed at which it was distributed across the world. "Similarly, it is the speed with which policies can be implemented that will differentiate winners from losers," he pointed out.

He concluded his speech by saying that just as social responsibility without entrepreneurship was not acceptable to the world today, entrepreneurship without social responsibility was not justified.

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