Asia's political influence to increase: Ansari

Asia's political influence in regional and global affairs would increase and it would regain the dominant economic position it held, Vice President Hamid Ansari said today.
Speaking on Europe and Emerging Asia at a seminar organised by the University of Calcutta's Institute of Foreign Policy Studies at its Alipore campus here, he said "The 19th Century was the century of Europe and the 20th became the American century... Some believe that the 21st could be the Asian century."
Ansari cited an Asian Development Bank Study which said that if Asia's current rate of economic growth continues, by 2050, it would account for around half of the global product output, trade and investment.

By mid-century, Asia can match per capita income enjoyed by the Europeans today and make about three billion people affluent by current standards, the study said.
The Vice President pointed out that Asia also required to sustain high growth rates, address widening inequities, mitigate environmental degradation due to global warming and climate change, compete for finite natural resources such as energy, water, fertile land etc and ensure food security.
If steps are not taken to address these issues, it could impact one another and increase tensions, unrest, and conflicts, and even create new flashpoints within and across Asia, that may threaten its growth, stability, and security, he said.

Citing high unemployment, a debt crisis, and financial paralysis for Europe's problems of economic slowdown, Ansari said urgent correctives had to be undertaken in that region.