Government role to remain vital even in open economy: PM

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday asserted that the government will continue to play an important role in a liberalised and borderless economy, and said greater attention needs to be paid to the political management of globalisation.

"I do believe that even in a wholly globalised and integrated world, states have a role to play. People in democratic societies expect the Governments to deliver on their basic needs", the Prime Minister said in his inaugural address at a FICCI-SRC seminar on globalisation.

Singh said while the private sector would increase its role in the economy, the government would play a role in services like basic education, public health and basic medical care.

He said not much attention has been paid to the politics of globalisation and its political  management.

"The United Nations could have been a political instrument of managing globalisation, but so far it has not succeeded", he said adding that the UN would not be able to succeed either unless it reforms itself as an institution and its own management became more democratic and more representative.