New Delhi
18 November 2005
Union Minister Natwar Singh on Friday said
India wanted to have good relations with countries in her immediate
neighbourhood.
"Our conviction in our common destiny is evident in our willingness to
extend economic concessions to our neighbours unilaterally, without
seeking reciprocity," he said in his inaugural address at Research and
Information Conference on Asian economic community.
He, however, said India was going all out to allay the apprehensions of its
South Asian neighbours about its closer interaction with East Asian
countries. "Even as we reach out to East Asia, we are convinced that our
immediate neighbours also need to be beneficiaries and participants of
this vision. There are political apprehensions in our neighbourhood and
we are trying to allay them by expanding economic content of our
relationship," he said.
He said sustainable economic growth in India needs to be linked to
similar growth in rest of the region and that transport infrastructure and
connectivity were a key to closer integration with the region.
"Cooperation in energy infrastructure is another area which can contribute
to the realisation of our vision of share prosperity. There are huge gas
reserves and market in the region. This requires regional development of
energy resources and energy infrastructure for delivery of gas to
consuming centres," the minister added.
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