External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday that India
expects to double its $4 trillion economy as well as its $800 billion
trade this decade, adding the country is prepared to undertake many
responsibilities, make greater contributions, and be more visible in
the Gulf.
”India is today almost a $4 trillion economy, we expect to
comfortably double that this decade. Our trade is today around $800
billion, that too should at least double this decade,” he said
addressing the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
The minister said the stakes that India has in the Gulf are very high
because this region is the most immediate for it in the world beyond
its borders. ”So whatever happens here, historically, culturally,
civilisational wise, economically, connectivity wise matters a lot.
And at one level I’m sure that all of us would like to hope for at
least a lowest common denominator on the basis of which countries
cooperate. I think given the importance of this region, we should be
more ambitious, we should aim for something very much higher,” he
added.
Mr Jaishankar said the Gulf is a region with which India does trade
worth $170-180 billion every year. It is a region where there is an
Indian diaspora today of about ten million people and growing. It is
also a region that is not just a key energy partner, but a broader
economic partner, a very crucial source of investment, and
increasingly an important technology collaborator.
Talking about the importance of connectivity in the world, the
minister said the primary preoccupation of the world today is to
de-risk the international economy, Emphasising the need for reliable
supply chains, he noted that the global connectivity is very fragile,
it is very limited. Many of the historic disruptions have not been
addressed.
”So, we are today very heavily focused on trying to in a way find a
kind of new hard wiring for the international economy. And one of the
most ambitious initiatives here is the IMEC, the India-Middle
East-Europe Economic Corridor, which was agreed upon by a set of
countries during the G20 Summit in India in 2023. And we hope that
from India, across the seas through this region, across the
Mediterranean into Europe we will see this connectivity corridor
materialise,” he added.
He also spoke about the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway.
Talking about mobility, he said, ”We are also entering an era of AI,
of innovation, of Start-Ups. There is a global workplace in the
making. Those ten million Indians who live here testify to that. This
is only going to intensify.” he called for strategic conversations to
deal with greater mobility and the compulsions of greater mobility.