India and China have enough space to grow: Manmohan Singh

The world has enough space to accommodate the development aspirations of emerging economies like India and China, visiting Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh told a gathering of Malaysia's apex business body today.

Delivering the Khazanah Global Lecture Series 2010 at Putrajaya, Malaysia's federal administration centre, Singh said: "India and China are both fast growing economies. China happens to be the largest trading partner of India even though there is imbalance (in China's favour).

He was answering a question on how India would shape growth as it competes with China for a larger share of the global pie.

He said while there is competition from China, there are enormous possibilities of working together, too. In fact, he said, China is currently India's largest trading partner.

Addressing the Khazanah Global Lecture, Singh said when he was a student, nobody even dreamt that India, China or any other Asian nation would catch up with the industrialised world. "Today, few doubt that a fundamental change in the global economy is underway."

He also sounded philosophical when he quoted India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru saying that the advancement of the nation, important though it is, must be viewed as a step to a better world for all of humanity.