MANILA, Philippines - Within the past six months, the leaders of the member countries of the United Nations Security Council have made visits to India: US President Obama, France's President Sarkozy, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, Russia's President Dimitri Medvedev, and China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. This is no coincidence. The major powers have decided the time has come to strengthen relations with this once-neglected struggling democracy and its booming economy. With its expanding middle class and a population of over a billion people, India provides an important market for both developed and developing countries. Today, India is Asia's third largest economy and the world's second fastest growing economy next to China. India and China together are expected to provide the economic stimulus to pull the other countries of Asia out of recession. While he was in India, China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told the press that ''the 21st century belongs to Asia,'' indicating the importance of India and China. The Western world tends to view India as a counterbalance to China in Asia, while Indian diplomats suggest that India wants to be taken as seriously as China is. ''It's very simple,'' one senior Indian diplomat told Reuters. ''We are the new kids on the block. The stars are all aligned. We're opening up at the right time in history.'' India's distinguished visitors were in pursuit of lucrative trade agreements that included everything from nuclear reactors to telecommunications. The biggest deal was India's order for 300 jet fighter planes from Russia. When he visited India last month, President Obama took a large trade delegation, and spent more time in India than in any other country he has visited since becoming president. While in Delhi, he promised India that the United States would support its bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
When India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted Obama's invitation to visit Washington, he was the guest of honor at President Obama's first state dinner. India is also seeking a larger role in global diplomacy. During the conference on climate change in Cancun, Mexico, this year, when delegates failed to reach a formal agreement, it was India that proposed that all countries simply agree to cutting carbon emissions, which they did. According to an analysis in the Economist, India will soon outpace China. India's clear advantage is a young and growing workforce, an expanding middle class, and thriving small businesses. India has ''millions of entrepreneurs,'' and its English-speaking CEOs network with their colleagues around the world. Thousands of Indian students study in the United States, and Indian doctors, scientists, and engineers practice there. As anyone who has travelled extensively in India knows, what India most urgently needs to attract increased trade and investment is to improve its poor infrastructure (roads, ports, bridges) which still limits its economic growth.
