Here he said that while the focus of government’s policies will remain on domestic economic issues, institutes like ICRIER should continue scanning “global economic developments and (also) explore new opportunities” such that “our development goals are effectively met”.

Asking think-tanks like ICRIER to “invest in informing and shaping public opinion and policy making in all these vital aspects” he said: “India, I sincerely believe, is destined to be more globally engaged. We are destined to be more integrated with our own region. Even today, our energy security is closely inter-twined with our political relationship with a wide range of countries around the globe. Our food security, our technological security, indeed our national security, are closely linked to developments around the world”.

One of the several areas he identified as essential for study was China, Singh said, as this would “be of immense value to our economic planners, diplomats and the polity at large”.

In Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s opinion “considering the rise of China on the global economic scenario, there must be a sharper focus on development trends in China and their implications for our development”.

‘WE Need to study China’

Singh identified the following as among the key areas economic think tanks should work on:

• Development trends in China and their fallout

• Effects of free trade agreements

• Trade in services, reverse migration

• Trade in natural resources, energy

• Financial markets, capital flows from abroad