Foreword
Indo Arab relations, though are thousands of years old, they have recently gained unprecedented significance at a time when the process of regional and global integration continues to create new political and economic equations across the globe. Recognizing this importance, the Institute of Objective Studies and the indo Arab economic cooperation forum undertook Endeavour of organizing a two day international conference on indo Arab relations: partnership in development, 13-14 November 2006 at New Delhi. The objective of the conference was clear: forging relations into partnership in development between India and Arab world with a view to benefiting ordinary Indians and Arabs in terms of prosperity, welfare and sharing responsibility towards building and equitable new economic order.
The conference was very much graceful by the presence and presentation of views of those who have earned global recognition of being among a few most competent ministers' industry leaders and academicians. Their speeches and paper focused on practical issues, developmental initiatives and policy framework greatly enlighten the participant of the conference.
A selects collection of these speeches and papers is being presented in this book. I hope this book, edited by Tahir Beg, will serve an important source of reference to the discussion on Indo Arab relations in contemporary times, and would help in building better thoughts and consensus among the intelligentsia, public leaders and industry champions of both India and the Arab countries.
Introduction
With the advent of 21st century, humanity came to witness revolutionary changes of such extra ordinary nature and scale that were never before seen in human history. Demise of communism, fall of Soviet Union, the consequent disappearance of bipolar world order, blowing of the windstorm of globalization, appearance of the emerging economies on world horizon as economic powers, comprises a long list of profound changes and processes that were unleashed only with the beginning of 21st century.
The geo-political and geo- economic landscape of the world continues to embrace deep structural changes. India, China, Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Argentina have been emerging as economic powerhouses, poised to play a dominant role on global horizon. With this, the global centre of gravity of economic and political power has begun shifting away from the trans-Atlantic nations to the nations of Asia, signaling dawn of the 'Asian Century'. This is shaping new international relations equations, particularly in Asia. A new international economic order is in the making.
The experiment of making regional economic groupings of many sovereign nations with a view to enhancing prosperity of the people is an extra ordinary endeavor and it stands out as one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century. The example was first set in Europe with the formation of European Economic Community, subsequently emerging as European Union with a single currency, Euro.
However the nations of the 'South' also mastered the art of making regional economic groupings and generating enormous welfare for their people. With the sustained expansion and remarkable success, the Association of South East Asian Nations ASEAN) has proved that economic alliances on regional scales in the 'developing world' can generate great potential of economic welfare and opportunities for development, if carried on pragmatically and with the spirit of equality of human beings and nations. In Asia, a new phenomenon is also emerging fast, the process of forming interregional economic alliances.
A. Economic Opportunities in the Arab World
The Arab world, responding to the call of time, and in keeping pace with the rest of dynamic regions of the world, achieved considerable changes and developments, in areas of demography, economy, finance, education, human resources and political governance -though in differing degrees, within their respective countries, and embarked on a sound program of augmenting their collective powers and energies through formation of regional economic integrations and alliances.
Most importantly, the Arab world, particularly, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has had a second petrodollar boom, which continues uninterruptedly. Since 1990, GCC economies have witnessed high growth rate, substantial diversification and strengthening of non-oil sector as well as a significant transformation of leading sectors. In comparison to the first petrodollar boom, this second is considerably well managed by both the governments and private sectors. One of the strategic consequences of it is the strengthening of the process of regional economic integration which had earlier failed to gain adequate momentum.
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