Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-27-Speech-3-260"
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"en.20060927.21.3-260"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I offer Mr Karim and all the Committee on International Trade my heartfelt thanks for the excellent work that they have done on this report.
Therefore, while we have the utmost respect for the traditions of this great country, we need to call on the Indian political and economic classes and the companies that operate in India to adopt a highly responsible position and to use every means to fight the problem of children who work rather than study, promoting instead the expansion of literacy, which is the real hope for people in the future.
India is the world’s most populous democracy and, with a growth rate of 9% in 2005 alone, its rapid economic development as well as its geopolitical characteristics represent yet another challenge to the European Union on the world’s markets. In many respects it is a fascinating challenge and it may bring potential benefits for Europe, but there are also possible risks.
In India, 400 million people live on less than a dollar a day. Sixty-five per cent of the population work in the agricultural sector, with its antiquated structures and methods. Nuclear power is used just as a deterrent in the long-standing war with its neighbour Pakistan, but it is little used to promote ecologically sound development, and that makes the country dependent on energy from abroad and forces it to look around the world for the energy sources it needs for its development.
India is a country of great wealth and great poverty, and even today it is difficult for women to find work, apart from the most menial duties, and particularly skilled work, which means that it is difficult for women to be accepted as entrepreneurs.
It is not a simple matter to talk of India on account of its vast size and all the variables that that entails, but India also represents a major hope for improving the distribution of international trade. India is also a great country with an extremely fast-growing GDP and a highly competent class of people able to keep up with the new international challenges in the field of advanced technology. The economy is moving ahead in many regions, and the gates have been opened to foreign investment, although Europe seems so far to have been excluded. India only accounts for 1% of Europe’s total trade.
Hence we see a need to form a strategic partnership between these two great blocks, in order to create a more fertile climate for cooperation, with better mutual understanding to bring down the barriers between us by adhering to mutually agreed rules.
The recent disagreements in the Doha Round in Geneva led to a few difficulties, but India and the European Union should accept the responsibility of revitalising a multilateral framework. As a country at an advanced stage of development but with profound social imbalances, this Asian giant needs a stronger European presence that can help it achieve more balanced growth.
On the European side, there has to be a fair, open approach aimed at reinforcing Europe’s presence in India and duly supporting our initiatives in that part of the world. What is happening, as should also happen in connection with the growing economic expansion of China, is that Europe is seeking a strategy for itself in relation to the rest of the world.
We must not, however, ignore the scourge of child labour, in many cases involving very young children. This is extremely common in the Indian economy, which lacks minimum standards of social protection for the weakest sections of society; the caste system also makes it difficult for part of the population to live and to grow."@en1
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