As he seeks to accelerate his economic reform drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said reform process is bound to face resistance and wanted it to be insulated from political pressures. Making a strong pitch for economic reforms, Modi told fellow G20 leaders at a retreat here that reforms should lead to simplification of processes and that methods of governance must be reformed. The retreat was hosted by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the Queensland Parliament House where the leaders met without aides shortly before the annual summit of the 20 industrialised and major economies kicked off at the Brisbane Convention Centre in the afternoon. “Reform is bound to face resistance...Must be insulated from political pressures,” said Modi. He also made it clear that reform has to be driven by the people and that it cannot be undertaken by “stealth”. Asserting that reform must be people-centric and people-driven, he said, globally reforms are handicapped with perception of being Government programmes and a burden on the people and this needs to change. Modi felt that reforms should lead to simplification of processes and that governance methods must be reformed. Noting that reform is a continuous multi-stage process and that it must be institutionalised, Modi said it must be technology-driven and must have scale and address root causes.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters on Friday that Prime Minister Abbott had specially requested Modi to outline his vision for reforms at the informal meeting of G20 leaders at the retreat in addition to his intervention at the main summit.The two-day summit is being held at a time when tax avoidance by big multi-national companies were reportedly organising tax-lowering deals with luxembourg and pressure from anti-corruption advocates,urging the major economies to stem the flow of illicit money across borders.Opening the summit, host Prime Minister Tony Abbott vowed that the summit will deliver on an initiative to add $ 2 trillion to the global GDP, add more than 2 per cent to the global economic growth and millions of jobs.
Prime Minister Modi also said success against global terror is within reach if countries adopt a common strategy. “Success against global terror is within reach if States adopt a common strategy,” Modi said.Modi’s remarks came against the backdrop of US Defence Secretary Chuck Haagel’s comments that the US-led air war against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria will intensify and that the American people must prepare for a long and difficult struggle.