Statement by India at the General Debate of Fourteenth G-15 Summit in Tehran,  delivered by Shri S.M. Krishna, EAM on May 17, 2010

Your Excellency President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
Excellencies,

Distinguished delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to represent India at the fourteenth summit of the Group of Fifteen in this beautiful city of Tehran. At the outset, I would like to express our deep appreciation to His Excellency the President of Iran for the warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for this meeting. I would also like to express our profound appreciation for the efforts of Iran during its chairmanship to reinvigorate the G-15.

Since the establishment of the G-15, we have made collective efforts to inject issues of interest to developing countries into the global agenda, and to seek outcomes that address our concerns. Some among us are engaged in addressing these issues in the G-20 forum.

While it may appear that the immediate global economic and financial crisis is behind us, it would be early to say that we are on the path of long term recovery. Sustainable recovery of the global economy will depend on several factors, including how the developed economies fare, enhanced investment for infrastructure development, stable capital flows to the developing markets, appropriate macro-economic adjustments, and avoiding complacency in the area of financial sector reforms. We need to continue our efforts for a comprehensive reform of the international financial institutions to make them more inclusive. We also must work for ensuring a balanced outcome of the Doha Round which addresses the concerns of the developing countries.

The 14th Summit, coming after over two decades of our Group’s founding, affords us an opportunity to review the progress and revitalize the grouping. We should make it an effective platform, not only for South-South cooperation but, equally importantly, for policy articulation in the global discourse in the areas of trade, money and finance, equitable development, food and energy security, climate change and other issues of concern to our peoples.

We need to collectively look at ways and means to promote South-South cooperation. India has been happy to share its developmental experiences with fellow developing countries, and has implemented some developmental projects in the G-15 framework. India stands ready to cooperate with other members of the group to undertake new projects for deepening and expanding our cooperation.

We need to consolidate ourselves as partners in development, willing to work towards creating a global environment of enhanced understanding and cooperation that is conducive to inclusive and sustainable development. We need to work on greater involvement of our business community and civil society in the G15 process.

I would like to congratulate the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for assuming the chairmanship of the Group in succession to the Islamic Republic of Iran and assure them of our full support and cooperation.

Thank you.

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