• Dialogues on economic diplomacy must be decentralised to address disruptions : Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu
• Vice President Addresses ‘Deccan Dialogue II – Economic Diplomacy in the Age of Disruptions’ at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad
• Economic diplomacy is growing strong with a new federal factor in Indian foreign policy : V Muraleedharan
Hyderabad, India, September 2, 2019 : M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India inaugurated the second edition of Deccan Dialogue, orgnised by Indian School of Business (ISB) in partnership with Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India here on 31st August. The theme of the conference was ‘Economic Diplomacy in the age of disruptions’.
Addressing the inaugural session of ‘Deccan Dialogue II – Economic Diplomacy in the Age of Disruptions’ at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, he said that India supports a rules-based multilateral order to tackle many common challenges such as climate change, technology divide, trade disputes, terrorism, connectivity and maritime threats. Observing that India and other developing countries when faced with issues of unilateralism and protectionism had made a clarion call to reform the multilateral system so that developing countries have a greater say in global governance, he said “what we need is reformed multi lateralism to face the headwinds of protectionist tendencies” he added.
Pointing out that India represented 1/6th of the global population, the Vice President also called for enlarging and democratizing the UN Security Council. Stating that the 21st century was being hailed as the Asian century and India has a key role to play in promoting peace, security and development in Asia and beyond, the Vice President said enhanced regional connectivity, both physical and digital, can boost trade and play a pivotal role in bringing prosperity and development. However, such initiatives to be successful and sustainable should be transparent, inclusive and respect the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said. In this context, he said that India believed in peaceful co-existence and was not a war monger. “We don’t want anybody to interfere in our internal affairs”, he asserted and added that India would give a befitting reply if anybody tried to interfere in its internal affairs.
Naidu said that embracing new technologies was a must for developing countries to leap-frog into the 4th industrial revolution and to positively transform the lives of people. “For this to happen, we need to look at appropriate frameworks for international cooperation at the global and regional levels that can avoid the digital divide and ensure that the 4th industrial revolution is an inclusive one”, he stressed. The Vice President also asserted that India stands for an open, secure, stable, accessible and non-discriminatory environment for ICT and digital technologies. India upholds the centrality of the United Nations in discussions on ICT-related security issues, he added.
Pointing out that the world was more connected than ever before in this era of globalization, Naidu said “the Global Village we have grown accustomed to is rapidly changing in unprecedented ways. This swiftly changing global geo-political and geo-economic landscape requires individual countries to come up with carefully strategized, dynamic and calibrated responses”.
V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India, in his address said, “Economic diplomacy is growing strong with a new federal factor in Indian foreign policy. Looking at States in India as an integral part of our foreign policy strategy and using their energies and contribution to strengthen the punch of our foreign policy in its economic dimension is clearly an innovation that the current Government is trying to achieve.
Professor Rajendra Srivastava, Dean, Indian School of Business, in his address, emphasised that economic diplomacy is key to address technological disruptions, as the non-territorial trade and business relations are becoming predominant in foreign policy calculations. “ISB is pleased to partner with MEA to strengthen this space”, he said.
S Niranjan Reddy, Minister for Agriculture and Civil Supplies, Government of Telangana and Mekapati Goutham Reddy, Minister for Industries, Commerce and Information Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh and P Harish, Additional Secretary, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India were present.
