45th Workshop Meeting of Heads of NPOs
15–17 February 2005, New Delhi, India
Inaugural Address
by Mr. E.V.K.S. Elangovan
Honorable Minister of State for Commerce & Industry
APO Secretary-General Shigeo Takenaka;
Secretary, Government of India, and Chairman, National Productivity Council, India Mr. Ashok Jha;
Director General, National Productivity Council, India Mrs. Sunila Basant;
Distinguished delegates from APO member countries and invitees;
Ladies and gentlemen:
I extend to delegates from other countries a warm and cordial welcome to India and to its historic capital.
The Asian productivity movement is now is almost four and one-half decades old. Those were eventful decades that changed drastically and irreversibly the way people do business. Thanks to the unprecedented information and communication revolution during the last quarter of the past century or so, the global village has finally arrived. The revolution is here to stay. Along with the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime, this revolution has totally redefined the rules for international economic relations. National markets suddenly seemed to lose their identity, especially product markets. Factor and service markets are tending to follow suit.
We are at the threshold of a resurgence in Asia today. During the course of the past five decades, the continent has been completely resurrected from the ravages of the Second World War. As a sequel to the resurgence, the hopes and aspirations of the masses in the region have also been ignited. Asian nations are moving rapidly along the path of social, economic, and technological progress. The people of this vast continent are poised to achieve prosperity and progress through higher productivity.
Asia is returning to its past glory and splendor. The region today not only offers resources to the developed West, it also provides markets for goods and services. Slowly and steadily, Asia has begun to challenge the economic and technological supremacy of the West. Manufacturing and service hubs have begun to shift to the Asia-Pacific. Billions of dollar reserves held by large as well as small Asian nations show the region's unquestionable command over the world’s economic destiny.
By no means is Asia’s social, economic, and technological transformation complete. The scope for humankind's progress is infinite. We need to continue our journey forward, with greater vigor and stronger determination. Undeniably, the productivity movement has contributed greatly to Asia’s transformation from dependency on the rest of the world to a commanding position in the short span of less than half a century. It is difficult to pinpoint precisely the extent of such contributions. Studies reveal that, barring minor exceptions, factor productivity growth for both labor and capital in APO member countries in the last decade was impressive. Even total factor productivity growth, the so-called coefficient of technical progress, in a number of member countries was positive and in a few comparable with that in the developed West. Without the Asian financial crisis, productivity growth would have been far higher in a number of Asian nations. Most countries affected by the crisis are on the road to recovery. We hope that they will record high productivity growth rates in the near future.
The accelerated growth in the Asia-Pacific region has not been sufficient to overcome certain deep-rooted historic socioeconomic maladies, however. Poverty still exists. At the beginning of the new millennium, the poor accounted for as much as one-third of the population in some countries. In India, an estimated one-fourth live below the poverty line. Until poverty ratios are substantially reduced, if not eliminated, our claim to high rates of productivity growth will remain hollow.
The plight of women in most Asian nations is unenviable and in some cases even deplorable. Studies in India and elsewhere glaringly point toward the increasing hardships women are subjected to, especially if they are poor. Asian productivity levels cannot be raised and sustained if women are neglected or discriminated against.
For vast segments of the Asian-Pacific population, agriculture is not an economic activity alone but a way of life. Agriculture sustains the daily lives of the majority of the people. Under the emerging WTO regime, subsistence farming in developing nations faces poor economic prospects. The scales are tilted toward agribusiness in the developed world. We need to focus on large-scale productivity improvements in the sector, particularly in postharvest operations, thus avoiding the huge losses incurred annually because of the lack of adequate storage and transport facilities. The worldwide revival of interest in organic food should be seen as an opportunity for developing nations. We should take advantage of this through a scientific approach to organic farming.
A widespread notion exists that industrialization and technological progress come at the cost of the physical environment. This notion needs to be dispelled. Wherever human activities are environmentally damaging, we need to take rapid remedial action. The productivity movement in Asia needs to view environmental threats far more seriously than in the past.
We need to equip ourselves to face natural disasters to minimize human suffering. We appreciate the spontaneous response of the world community toward the victims of the recent tsunami that struck a number of Asian and African countries. The most productive ways to restore normalcy in the affected areas must be considered. The Asian-Pacific productivity movement has a responsibility to facilitate exchanges of experiences faster and more systematically. In addition to rehabilitation of the affected, such exchanges can include scientific data relating to seismic and other factors so that natural disasters will have minimal adverse effects. This will be possible if we work in close cooperation.
I am happy to note that the APO, as the spearhead of the productivity movement in the Asia-Pacific region since 1961, has continuously exposed its member countries to emerging technological and social trends and encouraged them to seek their own situation-specific strategies to increase productivity. The National Productivity Council of India, set up in 1958, has also been successful in promoting productivity through consultancy, research, training, and institution building. It has acquired considerable expertise in the areas of energy and the environment. Today's economies are knowledge driven and we need to invest in skills and innovation.
Although productivity experts are well equipped to deal with various technological and economic issues, the wider society also needs to be involved in the productivity movement, as productivity growth is a social process. The sociocultural environment has interactive relationships with technological and economic progress. The productivity movement should therefore engage in continuous adaptation and innovation.
Within the confines of their limitations and working in tandem with similar organizations, the APO and NPOs may be able to contribute immensely to finding solutions to long-standing problems. I hope that these issues will be considered during your deliberations.
I wish the delegates from other countries a happy stay in India, and thank the APO for holding this meeting here.
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