December 9, 2024
NEW DELHI – 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.