Following is the text of the opening remarks by the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan singh at the Plenary Session of the BRIC Summit at Yekaterinburg, Russia today: “I wish to take this opportunity to once again thank His Excellency President Medvedev for hosting the first BRIC Summit. We have just concluded useful discussions in the restricted format on some of the major issues before us.

Global Financial situation: When we review the global financial and economic situation, it is worth recalling that when we met at the Second G-20 Leaders’ Summit in April this year we realised that the global downturn was much more severe than what we had anticipated in Washington D.C. in November last year.

In London we were successful in agreeing on several short term measures to infuse greater liquidity, make good the decline that has taken place in capital flows to developing countries by providing adequate resources to the international financial institutions, and agreeing on a broad direction for improvement in the regulatory and supervisory structure for the world’s financial system. We also agreed on the need to develop an effective early warning system which can identify the build up of risks which may threaten global financial stability.

There was a unanimous view that protectionism or restrictions on the free flow of trade and persons are counterproductive, and pose a particular threat to recovery in the developing world. The stark collapse in world trade has heightened the importance of an early completion of the Doha Round of talks keeping in mind its development dimension.

We also recognised the continuing need to redefining the role of institutions of global economic and financial governance to deal with the problems of today and to reflect contemporary realities. The broadening of representation in the Financial Stability Forum and the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, the two key standard setting bodies, has been a useful development in this context.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh with the Heads of State of BRIC Countries, in Yekaterinburg, Russia

We were able to identify areas for further improvement in the functioning of multilateral institutions. In the case of the IMF, these related to its surveillance function, its lending role, augmentation of the IMF’s resources and governance reforms. In the case of the World Bank, three specific points of action were identified - (i) a substantial increase in lending, (ii) a review of the Bank’s lending capacity and capital adequacy and (iii) enabling large developing countries to access required levels of finance through increased lending limits so that they can support recovery in their regions.

The important issue today is to implement the decisions that we have taken. Finance Ministers and Central Bank representatives of BRIC countries have met and identified the areas where our efforts should be focused. Our countries should also keep in contact with each other in the run up to the next G-20 Leaders Summit in Pittsburgh.

Our cooperation in the G-20 process must be backed up by cooperation in the real economy. The volume of trade among BRIC countries has grown rapidly in recent years. Intra-BRIC investments have also grown. We should consider the establishment of a BRIC Joint Business Forum which can identify areas for cooperation such as science and technology, energy, agriculture, aviation, pharmaceuticals and services.

India and stimulus packages: In India, we have launched a number of fiscal stimulus packages including additional public spending, amounting to over 3% of our GDP. Our monetary policy initiatives have been targeted towards maintaining a comfortable liquidity position and ensuring that credit delivery remains on track. Our banking system remains well regulated, capitalized and profitable.

The Joint Statement and the Statement on Global Food Security that we will be adopting later today provide a road-map for our future work.  wish to congratulate His Excellency President Medvedev for his guidance and leadership during this Summit, and for the successful outcomes that we have reached today.”

PM's opening remarks at the onboard press conference on his visit to Russia

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh interacting with the media on board flight to way back to Delhi after Russia visit

Following is the text of the opening remarks at the on board press conference on his visit to Russia by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh: “I have had an intense and productive visit to Russia to participate in the Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and in the first ever standalone summit meeting of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China yesterday. This has been my first visit abroad in the new term of the Government. The visit has reinforced my sense of the significance of India’s engagement with the world, particularly at this time of economic crisis and political change.

In the short time that I was in Yekaterinburg, I had also had bilateral meetings with President Hu Jintao of China, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, President Zardari of Pakistan and President Medvedev of Russia. As you know, India is an observer in the SCO and has primarily attended Summits at the Ministerial level. I chose to attend this Summit because of President Medvedev’s personal invitation and as the format this time provided for full participation by Observers in the restricted and plenary sessions with the other leaders. Central Asia, where the SCO is active, is part of India’s extended neighbourhood.

We look forward to increased functional cooperation with the SCO. At the BRIC Summit, we discussed the need to intensify cooperation among ourselves and discussed the international economic downturn, and how we can prepare for the forthcoming G-8 and G-20 Summits. We live in times of rapid economic change when the BRIC economies are a factor of stability and growth. India has borne the global economic crisis well, though we have not been unaffected. Full Story

PM’s Q&A session: Highlights

Talks with President Zardari
Let us wait for the outcome of the meeting of the Foreign Secretaries. As I said the purpose of this meeting is to learn from Pakistan what it has done to control terrorist activities directed against India and what it plans to do. And in the process President Zardari mentioned to me the problems that they face. I explained to him that whereas Pakistan has now taken effective action against Taliban and Al Qaeda, we have a feeling that those elements who are actively engaged in perpetrating terrorists acts in our country, they are not being brought to justice. So my expectation is that this meeting of Foreign Secretaries will tell us whether Pakistan has taken effective action , if it plans to take effective action against these perpetrators of terrorism.

Any Discussion on Kashmir ?
No discussion on Kashmir took place. He did not raise it nor did I raise it. He did mention to me the difficulties that Pakistan is facing in containing terrorism and asked us to bear with him, give him some more time. But there was no mention of Kashmir at anytime in our discussions. I have often said we can choose our friends but we have to live with our neighbours. It is necessary not to close our channels of communication with neighbours. I think that’s what we should do.

Anything tangible coming out of the talks  and time lines?
I did raise with him what tangible things we would like to see. I think that’s better not said. We have said that the meeting of Foreign Secretaries should take place before the NAM Summit, that is in July.

What will be the foreign policy agenda for next 5 years? Will BRIC be useful or just be a talk shop?
I hope it goes beyond being a talk shop. We are responsible for 40 % of the population and GDP. If all these countries act in concert , I think their voices will be heard in the global councils. As for India ‘s relations we will pursue the path that has been outlined by the Hon’ble President in the address to parliament a few days ago.

Alternate Global Currency
Those were the ideas that were aired but no concrete conclusion emerged. It was agreed that these are highly complex issues replacing the dollar by anther currency –a national currency or SDRs. And it was felt that this matter required proper examination by our Foreign Ministers and Governors Of Central Banks.

Situation in Kashmir.
As regards Jammu & Kashmir , the Home Minister was there. The Home Minister made some important statements on\the deployment of forces. And it is very unfortunate that these incidents have taken place. If there were any violation of human rights we will take effective action. And I have also promised the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister that once the new Government settles down, we will look at the problems of developing Jammu and Kashmir, update our development and reconstructive plans. I have always said that we would be happy to engage in a dialogue with any groups and I mean any groups in talking to us. That option is open and we would welcome even those groups who are not in the political mainstream . If they have any views ,we are quite willing to discuss with them. In the past also I have twice invited the Hurriyat .They said they would send us proposals, they never sent us any proposals. They said there are too many people detained. I asked them to give me a list of people who they felt had been detained without purpose, they never gave any list. I am not complaining. We are willing to engage in a dialogue with anyone who is willing to shun the use of gun.