Ho Chi Minh City: President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday had some words of praise for the new Indian government as he credited it for not only initiating steps to bring the economy on a better path but also for creating a "favourable" atmosphere for India across the globe.
The President, who abandoned his written speech for an extempore talk during the Indian community reception in this historic city of Vietnam, also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accomplishing a wonderful trip to Japan from where, he said, hopes of substantial Foreign Direct Investment are expected to be ploughed into India in the future.
"After the new government (led by Modi) came out with a massive mandate they also worked out...of course, it is too early to formulate cogent policies for the full five years and get it reflected in the plan document and other documents but the first budget presented by the new government outlines some of the crucial policies and there is substantially continuity and there is change (in policy) where it has been found necessary to do it.
"One very positive aspect is that there is possibility of substantial FDI which was an important outcome of the Prime Minister's visit to Japan. And it is expected that in the next five years, investment from Japan would be around $25-35 billion.
"Also, we had a very good interaction with the Australian Prime Minister during his visit to India in the last week. Our Prime Minister is expected to have detailed interactions with US President Barack Obama and therefore the international atmosphere is favourable and I am (also) visiting Vietnam at this juncture when two fastest growing economies - India and Vietnam - are also engaged in having cooperation and interaction," he said.
The President also praised Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the lone representative of the Modi cabinet on this four-day state visit, for taking steps for bringing down the prices of crude oil.
"I can congratulate Mr Dharmedra Pradhan because after assuming the office of the Petroleum Ministry, he has brought good luck to the petroleum (sector) in the sense that now the petroleum prices have come down to $93 per barrel and the prediction is that it will go further down. Unfortunately, when I was the Finance Minister, I did not have that privilege of buying petroleum less than $112-115 per barrel," he said evoking a thunderous applause from the audience.
He said that he would also be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping who is coming to India, as he begins his tour from Gujarat on Wednesday. "My first duty will be to receive him on September 18 morning. He will be arriving in Gujarat on September 17," he said.
Mukherjee, who himself has headed the Finance Ministry before becoming the head of the state, said the Indian economy has been doing well and is expected to do better. "Indian economy, no doubt, is doing well after the financial crisis and after that we had some teething problems and also certain problems over which the domestic policies do not have complete control over.
"As a result, though we maintained our GDP growth at a reasonably high level after the crisis year of 2008-09 which was 6.5 per cent and certainly come down from around 9 per cent has come down from 9.3 per cent in 2007-08 but we improved in 2010-11 and 2011-12 - 8.5 per cent and 8.9 per cent.
"But again it slipped down for two consecutive years and in the last year it was around 5 per cent. Rate of inflation also became relatively high. "At one point of time, current account deficit, despite the fact that our foreign exchange reserves are more than $93 billion and now has reached about $103 billion, but still there was an apprehension because 14 months consecutively because of the almost zero demand in developed industrialised economy, there was no growth in Indian export. On the other hand, import bill went high," he said.
Highlighting the developments of his current trip, Mukherjee said amongst the seven pacts signed between the two countries some are "very significant." One is about the procurement of defence equipment (where an MoU has been signed), the second is the direct flight between Mumbai and Ho Chi Minh City through Jet Airways operating its aircraft from the first week of November and opening of new blocks to OVL from the Vietnam government, he said.
"These are of much significance," he said on a day China specifically opposed the ONGC Videsh Limited and Petro Vietnam future exploration deal. He asked the PIOs to work for India as they have learned some best practices in work culture, discipline and devotion to duty.
"This work culture and the sense of responsibility is what we want from you," he said as he invited the Indians here to attend the next year's edition of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) in Gujarat.
The PBD this time, he said, is of special significance as India will be commemorating the 100th years of the return of its most important NRI from South Africa to India - Mahatma Gandhi. He also lauded the Vietnamese leadership "in steering its economy at a difficult time when world was seeing the 2008 financial crisis and then the Euro zone crisis."
He said that the relations between India and Vietnam go back to days of the "glorious freedom struggle" both the nations saw as he said that at present there is a "very well knit" Indian diaspora in this country.
He urged the Indians present here to never forget their Indian roots. The President is on a four-day state visit to Vietnam and has reached Ho Chi Minh City, earlier called Saigon, on the second and final leg of his tour.
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