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Our effort will be to roll back the crisis: Manmohan

On Board Air India One: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday the G-20 leaders agreed to shun protectionism to tide over the current economic crisis as they asked multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank to come out with new facilities to increase their assistance to developing countries.

Asked by what time the global crisis could be over, Dr. Singh told reporters accompanying him in his special aircraft on way back from Washington, where he attended the G-20 summit that he was not an astrologer and there were apprehensions that the worst had not still been seen.

“Our effort will be to contain and roll back the crisis. I am afraid I can’t pronounce on any sense of that [any time frame] with authority.”

Dr. Singh said U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team had given “positive indications” to India about bilateral ties and there was no reason to have any doubts about its intentions.

The Obama transition team deputed the former Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, for interaction with the Indian side during the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington, Dr. Singh said, adding “they have given us all the positive indications.”

“There is no reason to have any doubts about the intentions of the Obama administration towards us. From whatever contact we have had, we have no reasons to be apprehensive about the change of the regime in the U.S.,” he said.

Ahead of Dr. Singh’s U.S. visit, Mr. Obama telephoned the Prime Minister on Wednesday last and described the India-U.S. strategic relationship as a “very important partnership.”

Dr. Singh said there was general recognition in the U.S. about the role India could play and should play. There was considerable appreciation of the way the Indian economy was managed.

Dr. Singh ruled out early Lok Sabha elections in the wake of the worsening global economic downturn and fears of its adverse impact on India. — PTI

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