PM hopes ASEM summit to seek solution for global crisis

“I sincerely hope that the Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) of minds between Asia and Europe will produce a solution to a lot of global problems, including the international financial crisis,” said the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after his arrival in Beijing on Thursday.

Dr. Singh, who was on a three-day visit to Japan participating in Indo-Japan annual summit, left Tokyo late on Thursday for China to attend for the first time the seventh ASEM summit, a group of 45-nation.

The two-day summit commencing from Friday in the Great Hall of the People, will discuss on the ways to enhance economic interaction and social development between Asia and Europe. The participants will also deliberate on political and cultural issues, comprising energy, food crisis, climate change and other matters related to sustainable development.

Talks will also be laid down on financial crisis in context of Asia, as the global economic slump has sparked fears that Asia, too, may not be detached from the transnational downturn. Some of the Asian countries, too, are facing financial crisis, particularly in the field of stock market and banking sector.

In the wake of grave issue of financial epidemic, even the bilateral interaction between Prime Minister Dr. Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani today that usually get the high media coverage, would be overshadowed.

Ahead of the meeting, which opening session started today, Dr. Singh met Mongolian President and Prime Ministers of Italy and Vietnam in a bid to promote bilateral ties and exchange views on issues of common interests. Singh is also expected to have meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Presiden Hu Jintao.

This is the first time when India, Pakistan and Mongolia have been invited for the summit. In May 2007, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had attended an ASEM ministerial meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

The European Union and the United States have insisted that India and China, the two major Asian economic powers, must be on the negotiating table convening to reform the global financial system and strengthen the regulatory framework.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to travel to the US on November 15 to attend a summit meeting G-20 nations on the global financial crisis called by outgoing US president George Bush.