Manmohan slams developed world ahead of G-8

Ahead of his trip to the central Italian town of L’Aquila for the G-8 and G-5 summits, prime minister Manmohan Singh uncharacteristically hit out at the industrialised world, blaming rich countries for both the current financial mess and global warming triggered by two centuries of conspicuous consumption.

“They have to bear this historical responsibility,” he said on Tuesday. India is signalling that the developing world is not ready to toe the line of the industrialised world. China and India are together in demanding that the major burden has to be carried by the developed, not the emerging, economies.

Chinese president Hu Jintao is attending the G-5 outreach summit. US president Barack Obama is flying in from Moscow, but so far there is no indication whether Singh will have a separate meeting with him. “Time is so short, it is hard to say. Of course the prime minister will meet all the leaders at the summits, but we do not know if and when the bilaterals will take place,” foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said when asked about the possibility of Singh’s meeting with Obama.

The G-5 summit began in 2003, mainly due to the French and British initiative. Paris and London felt G-8 countries had to take note of the emerging economies of China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Brazil. Since then, leaders of these countries are invited to the summit of the world’s most industrialised countries.