India should learn from crisis in eurozone: Manmohan Singh

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The events in eurozone should not cast a shadow on our efforts at building unity and eventually a South Asian union, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, declaring open the Unesco Madanjeet Singh Institute of South Asian Regional Cooperation at Pondicherry University here, on Friday.

“I sincerely hope that leaders of Europe will find in them the imagination and wisdom to preserve the European project that has served as a guiding light to regional cooperation elsewhere in the world, including South Asia,” stated Dr Singh.

"We have not been ambitious enough in working towards building a united South Asia where each of our countries seeks its economic and social salvation through cooperative development within the region and by leveraging each other’s strengths. We have abundant talent and creativity among us and we should pool our wisdom and work to remove the mental and other roadblocks preventing the people of South Asia from realising their true destiny," he said.

Stating that India was fully committed to the idea of Saarc, he said he had found a genuine desire among South Asian leaders to write a new chapter in the history of the organisation. The South Asia University has started and will soon have its own full-fledged campus outside Delhi.

The financial and economic crisis in eurozone has many important lessons and implications for India, said Mr Singh who called for cooperation among South Asian countries.