The issue of Israel?s attack on a Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza, and Israel?s blockade of the Palestinian territory, took centre stage at third summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building measures in Asia (CICA) in Istanbul. And while traditional security issues, including terrorism and nuclear weapons formed the core of discussions, the Indian delegation led by commerce minister Anand Sharma importantly raised the issue of the continued uncertainty posed by the global economic crisis. The economic dimension has been largely neglected in this summit because of political events in West Asia in particular.
While addressing the issue of terrorism and West Asia in his speech, commerce minister Anand Sharma, nominated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to represent him at CICA as his special envoy, flagged the need for CICA to also take serious note of the continued global economic and financial crisis. In his speech at the summit, the minister said, ?While we can take hope from the fact that the worst may be behind us, sustained recovery is likely to take some time. The recover is reassuring but is not uniform, as many economies continue to register weak growth.?
With reference to the crisis in Europe, Anand Sharma warned of the fragility of the global economic architecture and the risks associated with unsustainable lending patterns. Expressing cautious optimism about the near term, the minister urged more global cooperation beyond the already successful economic stimulus strategies. He said, ?Much will depend on the ability of nations to act
in concert to reform the global architecture to make it more inclusive and representative in tune with contemporary global realities.?
He highlighted the importance of CICA members, mostly developing countries, emerging as crucial stakeholders in the process of global economic and financial recovery. CICA members together constitute one-third of global GDP. Apart from India, two other BRIC nations, China and Russia, are also members of CICA.