By Gopal
Krishna Agarwal,
National
spokesperson, BJP
PRIME MINISTER
Narendra Modi has been able to leverage India's economic advantages to improve
international relations and vice versa. He recognizes that India's ambition to
become a $10-trillion economy and create 175 millions jobs by 2032 will depend
on linking the country's foreign policy to domestic transformation. The Modi
government's policies have been geared to attract foreign capital and towards
regional stability, peace and prosperity.
The prime minister's personal rapport with
international leaders
has significantly enhanced India's profile and given it a confidence never seen
before. Western economies are facing serious challenges. Global economic growth
is seeing a downward trend.
However,
Modi has been successful in convincing the international community that India
will realize its true potentials an economic power. He has removed apprehensions
about corruption and showed commitment to reforms in tax and corporate laws,
better resource allocation, faster government clearances, removal of bureaucratic
hurdles and retrospective taxation. Two major apprehensions under the UPA
regime - policy paralysis and large-scale corruption - have been effectively
checked.
The
government has embarked on initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Smart Cities, Clean India, Clean Ganga, GST and the
bankruptcy law, speeded up project clearances and revived stalled projects.
Over
the years, bilateral trade relations and agreements have gained enormous significance
in the international business arena and are now more influential than
multilateral pacts like the WTO and GATT. It is becoming more and more
difficult to bring developing countries to common agreeable points at
multilateral platforms and, there-fore, small trade blocks like ASEAN, SAARC
and BRICS and bilateral Free Trade Agreements have gained prominence. PM Modi
has leveraged this tend to India's economic and strategic advantage. Over a
span of two years, he has visited more than 42 countries and nurtured new
developmental and economic blocks. The Act East policy connecting Bhutan
Bangladesh India Nepal (BBIN) through GPS and common licensing policy, a road
corridor from the North East to Myanmar are commendable initiatives.
The
Modi government ratified the Land
Border
Dispute Agreement (LBA) and addressed the maritime boundary dispute with
Bangladesh. It fast-tracked development projects in Afghanistan. India's
participation in the development of the Chabahar port in Iran and forging a
trilateral pact to build a land transit-and-trade corridor through Afghanistan
are stepping stones for bigger future involvement. The PM's Tehran visit
underlined the changing context of Iran, now a stable and resourceful country and important for our energy security.
India-Japan relations are at their best India hopes to attract $5.5 billion of investments from Japan. Modi has built a good rapport with the German chancellor. Germany is the key provider of high-end technology and has surplus capital. India is looking forward to both technology and capital investment from Germany. In partnership with France, India has established the International Solar Alliance, with the head office in Gurgaon. This alliance, with 120 countries as members, aims to harness the country’s solar power potential. Modi’s reconnect with Central Asia has also been a crucial intervention Uzbekistan has strong cultural ties with India.
Turkmenistan is rich in energy; Kazakhstan has huge hydro potential while Tajikistan is historically significant. Africa offers India a massive opportunity to expand our global economic footprint. The continent is an important market for the Indian economy. The 54 African states have a combined GDP. Which is larger than that of India? The third India-Africa Summit in New Delhi in 2015 focused on enhancing India's engage with Africa.
A visionary step of PM Modi was leveraging India's powerful diaspora. While empowering the diaspora in their domicile countries, the government has coordinated with them for advocacy and building influence. He sought to connect directly with NRIs in a unique fashion. His first outreach in New York - at Madison Square Garden - attracted 15,000 NRIs. About 5,000 people attended his meeting in Beijing whereas over 60,000 people turned up for the Wembley Stadium programme. The significance of the diaspora is self-evident in the flow of remittance to India: According to the World Bank, India received $72 billion in 2015 as foreign remittance, making it the world's largest remittance-receiving country.
India
is now among the world's top destinations for FDI flows. It has attracted
investment of close to $200 billion from foreign investors. In 2014, India's
total trade was 46 per cent of the GDP. India plans to double its aggregate
global trade over the next decade.
Our
targets for 2019 include becoming the top start-up destination in the world,
achieving 60 per cent digital penetration and increasing the share of
manufacturing in GDP From 16 percent to 25 percent by 2022.
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