British Prime Minister Tony Blair is eager to bolster Europe's business ties with India at an EU-India summit that opened yesterday, arguing the West should embrace the booming nation's emergence as an economic power rather than fear it as a job-stealing threat.
Blair, who arrived in New Delhi late on Tuesday after two days of trade-focused meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing, says wealthy nations must adapt to the fast-moving changes of economic globalization by building close relationships with new trade partners.
He met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday at the start of an annual EU-India meeting. The two will meet again today for British-India talks at the Indian prime minister's retreat in the Himalayas.
Britain holds the EU's rotating presidency.
Before the summit's start, Blair and his wife Cherie placed a wreath at a memorial to Mohandas Gandhi and then threw red rose petals onto the black marble monument near the site of the Indian independence leader's cremation in 1948. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also placed a wreath.
"The principles in which he lived his life will endure forever; namely that the ultimate salvation for humanity comes when people of all colors, race, nations and religions learn to live in peace and harmony with each other," Blair wrote in a visitors' book.
"India will be a winner from greater openness," EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told business leaders and officials from both sides at the summit's start.
India's economic growth has averaged 6 percent over the past decade -- a pace the can be improved through more foreign investment, he said.
India, rather than looking to Britain and the EU for a helping hand, as it might have done a decade ago, comes to this week's talks seeking ways they can work together to boost business and increase prosperity on all sides.
"There is a clear attitude change toward India, which is reflected in Britain treating India as an equal partner," said Charan Wadhwa, a trade analyst at Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.
"There is a realization that India has arrived on the scene," Wadhwa said.
New Delhi is eager for European expertise and investment in its infrastructure and in gaining access to clean energy supplies, two areas analysts see as crucial to keeping its strong growth on track.
SUPPORT: Elon Musk’s backing for the far-right AfD is also an implicit rebuke of center-right Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a swipe at Elon Musk over his political judgement, escalating a spat between the German government and the world’s richest person. Scholz, speaking to reporters in Berlin on Friday, was asked about a post Musk made on his X platform earlier the same day asserting that only the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party “can save Germany.” “We have freedom of speech, and that also applies to multi-billionaires,” Scholz said alongside Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal. “But freedom of speech also means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain
Pulled from the mud as an infant after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and reunited with his parents following an emotional court battle, the boy once known as “Baby 81” is now a 20-year-old dreaming of higher education. Jayarasa Abilash’s story symbolized that of the families torn apart by one of the worst natural calamities in modern history, but it also offered hope. More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed, with others missing. The two-month-old was washed away by the tsunami in eastern Sri Lanka and found some distance from home by rescuers. At the hospital, he was
Two US Navy pilots were shot down yesterday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the US military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of US targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one sustaining minor injuries. However, the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite US and European military coalitions patrolling the area. The US military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the
MILITANTS TARGETED: The US said its forces had killed an IS leader in Deir Ezzor, as it increased its activities in the region following al-Assad’s overthrow Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior US diplomat said on Friday following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by US diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war. The lightning offensive that toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 was led by the Muslim Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in al-Qaeda’s
RSS