Sustainable development can't be achieved without peace: P.M.

Anil K Joseph

Beijing, Oct 25 (PTI) Seeking strengthening of global
cooperation to combat terrorism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Saturday said there cannot be sustainable development, a major
challenge faced by the world, without peace.

"Without peace there can be no sustainable development.
Terrorism, extremism, and intolerance threaten our social
cohesion," Singh said in his address to the 7th Asia-Europe
Meeting (A.S.E.M.) Summit here.

"We need to continuously strengthen international
cooperation to combat terrorism. We must bring perpetrators,
organisers, financiers and sponsors of terrorism to
justice," he said at the concluding day of the two-day
summit, also attended by Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani
as well as over 40 other world leaders.

He said sustainable development was among the biggest
challenges faced by the world and a lot of cooperative work
was needed to transform it from a mere buzz word to an
operational strategy for development.

"We know that Asia is home to the largest concentration
of the world's poor. Poverty eradication at this scale
requires a collaborative global effort to promote development
and in particular to create job opportunities. If we fail, we
will continue to live in a world of instability and conflict,"
Singh, who was the first to speak at one of the main sessions,
said.

"The development strategies that we adopt have to result
in a fair, equitable and balanced distribution of the economic
dividend," the Prime Minister said.

At the same time, he said, it must also preserve and
protect the environment. "Only then can we make faster
progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals."

"We therefore need to put in place a global action plan
to promote both food and energy security for managing the
challenges of both accelerated growth and its environmental
sustainability," Singh said.

He noted that unfortunately, the international community
has not lived up to its commitments for technology transfer
and additional financing since the Rio Conference.

"We should pursue innovative mechanisms for raising
finance for development and creating a favourable Intellectual
Property Regime."

Dwelling on climate change, Singh said the issue
threatened the environment and as well as development.

"A holistic approach is needed to tackle this problem. We
cannot do so by perpetuating the poverty of the developing
countries, or by preventing their industrialisation," he said.

"The challenge ahead is to put in place development
strategies which improve living standards, create
opportunities for job creation and are also environment
friendly," Singh said.

"Thus, common but differentiated responsibility should be
the cardinal principle of negotiations to find practical and
pragmatic solutions within the U.N. Framework Convention on
Climate Change," Singh said, advocating India's stance on the
crucial subject.

He lamented that progress on the implementation of the
Kyoto Protocol has been slow.

Singh pointed out that emissions of developed countries
have actually increased by 2.6 percent from 2000 to 2005.

"We should call upon our European partners to do more in
this regard. The developing world is committed to doing its
share," he said, a day after India formally joined the
45-member A.S.E.M.

The Prime Minister said the principle of convergence of
per-capita emissions of developing countries with advanced
developed countries is catching the imagination of the
international community.

"We should recognise that each citizen of the world has
equal entitlement to the global atmospheric space," he said in
his statement.

Singh also underscored that the dependence on fossil
fuels was a "cause of many problems."

"Greater effort is needed to promote clean and renewable
sources of energy, including nuclear energy," he said,
highlighting India's quest for enhancing its share of atomic
power.

The world, therefore, needs a new compact plan to
increase efficiency in the use of available energy resources,
he said.

Singh, who had made an intervention yesterday on the
global financial turmoil, did not touch the issue Saturday in
his address.

In his power-packed intervention, Singh had blamed three
"failures" of international surveillance, supervision and
regulatory mechanisms for the global financial crisis and
sought immediate "coordinated action" to restore confidence
and "de-clog" the credit market.

During an intervention Saturday, the Prime Minister
touched the issue of globalisation and pointed out that if it
is to succeed, it must be fair and benefit the whole of
humanity.

"Development has to be inclusive. It must reduce
disparities of income and wealth. It should create ever
widening circles of stake-holders. It should respect pluralism
and diversity," he said.

The Prime Minister noted that Asia is growing rapidly and
has proven capabilities as a provider of goods, services and
knowledge.

"Europeans are world leaders in the scientific,
technological and financial areas. We have therefore much to
learn from each other," he said.

"We seek on this historic occasion a meeting of minds
and of these complementarities to bring both stability and
prosperity to our two continents (Asia and Europe) and to the
world at large," Singh added.

The A.S.E.M. comprises 45 members and represents more
than 50 percent of the world's gross domestic product
(G.D.P.).

The European side is represented by 27 European Union
nations and the European Commission. The Asian members count
10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(A.S.E.A.N.) plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan,
Mongolia and the A.S.E.A.N. Secretariat. PTI A.K.J.
RKM