New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lauded India's performance amid the Coronavirus pandemic, the rapid vaccination coverage, along with progress in sectors such as pharmacy and technology.
He invited the world to invest in India as he delivered his ‘State of the World’ special address at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda via video conferencing.
The Prime Minister highlighted that India is tackling another wave of the pandemic "with caution and confidence and moving ahead in the economic sphere with many hopeful results".
He said that "India as a strong democracy, has given a bouquet of hope to the mankind which comprises of Indians' unwavering faith in democracy, technology that is empowering 21st century, and talent and temperament of Indians."
ALSO READ | Centre Releases Revised COVID-19 Clinical Treatment And Discharge Guidelines
PM Modi mentioned that India saved many lives by exporting essential medicines and vaccines by following its vision of ‘One Earth, One Health’. "India is the world's third largest pharmaceutical producer and is considered ‘pharmacy to the world’," he said.
"We also focused on reforms in the right direction. Global economic experts have praised India's decisions and I'm certain that we will fulfill the world's aspirations from India," he added.
He put forth India's achievements in the pharma sector as well as in technology.
PM Modi mentioned that "today India has the world's largest, safe and successful digital payments platform. In the last month alone, 4.4 billion transactions have taken place in India through Unified Payments Interface (UPI)".
This Is The Best Time To Invest In India: PM Modi
The Prime Minister said that India is committed to becoming world’s reliable partner in global supply-chains and is making way for free trade agreements with many countries. India’s capabilities in innovation, technology adaptation, and entrepreneurship spirit makes India an ideal global partner.
Calling on the world to invest in India, PM Modi stressed: "This is the best time to invest in India. The entrepreneurship spirit that Indians have, the ability to adopt new technology, can give new energy to each of our global partners".
Talking about startups, he said: "In 2014, there were a few hundred registered startups in India. Today their number has crossed 60 thousand with above 10 thousand of them registered in the last 6 months. More than 50 lakh software developers are working in the country today."
The Prime Minister talked about the measures of enhancing Ease of Doing Business and reduction of the government interference. He mentioned simplification of corporate tax rates and making them the most competitive in the world. "We did away with more than 25 thousand compliances in the year gone by," he added.
He further mentioned that India is making policies keeping in mind the goals of the next 25 years. In this time period, he said that the country has kept the goals of high growth and saturation of welfare and wellness. This period of growth will be green, clean, sustainable as well as reliable, the Prime Minister emphasised.
On the environment front, PM Modi said: "We have to accept that our lifestyle is also a big challenge for the climate. 'Throw away' culture and consumerism have made the climate challenge more serious. It is important for Mission 'LIFE' to become a global mass movement".
This is in reference to PM Modi's mention of Mission LIFE at the CoP26 conference, denoting LIFE as ‘Lifestyle for Environment’, which is a vision of a resilient and sustainable lifestyle in dealing with the climate crisis and other unpredictable challenges of the future.
PM Modi On Changing World Order, Crypto
At the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda, the Prime Minister stressed the need to adapt as per the changing realities of the world order. He said that the global family is facing fresh challenges in the changing world order and called for collective and synchronised action from every country and global agency.
He cited supply chain disruptions, inflation, and climate change as key examples.
On cryptocurrency, PM Modi said related technologies and their challenges do not lend themselves to the decisions of any single country and therefore there was a need to be on one page on the same.
He also asked whether the multilateral organisations are in a position to tackle the challenges of the world order in a changed scenario, as the world has changed from the time when these organisations came into being. "That is why it is imperative that every democratic nation should push for reforms of these bodies so that they can come up to the task dealing with the challenges of the present and the future," he concluded.
ALSO READ | Joint Efforts Only Way To Fight Pandemic; Blame Game Will Delay Our Response: Xi Jinping
Davos Agenda 2022
The Davos Agenda Virtual Summit hosts world leaders and heads of important institutions and organisations as they address critical challenges being witnessed in the world. This time, three main areas of concern at the summit are Climate Action, Pandemic Recovery, and Economic and Social Resilience.
According to the WEF, the event marks the launch of several initiatives including “efforts to accelerate the race to net-zero emissions, ensure the economic opportunity of nature-positive solutions, create cyber resilience, strengthen global value chains, build economies in fragile markets through humanitarian investing, bridge the vaccine manufacturing gap and use data solutions to prepare for the next pandemic”.
Other important speakers at the summit include Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO), Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health of the United States of America, Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia among others.