PM hopes G20 will debate global economy

"It is important for the Cannes Summit to signal a strong and coordinated approach to put the global economy back on track, while addressing medium term structural issues," he said in a departure statement before leaving for the two-day Cannes Summit in French Riviera starting tomorrow.

The Prime Minister said much more needs to be done to combat the debt crisis despite measure of confidence being restored in the market after the twin summits of the European Union and Eurozone a few days ago. Noting that the Eurozone is a historic project, he said, "India would like the Eurozone to prosper, because in Europes prosperity lies our own prosperity". Developing economies such as India need a conducive global economic environment to address the vast challenges they face, he said.

"In an increasingly interdependent world, we have to be wary of contagion effects and the import of inflationary pressures in our economy. We need to ensure that developing countries have access to requisite funds through multilateral development banks and to investible surpluses to meet their infrastructure and other priority needs," Singh said.

The issue of global governance will also come up for discussion during the G20 meet. "This is an issue of importance to India, and we will work with others to develop effective and representative global governance mechanisms and carry forward the process of reform of the international monetary and financial system," he said.

During his visit, the Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with French President Nicholas Sarkozy. He would be also meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron, Australian Premier Julia Gillard as also EU leaders Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso.

Singh, who will be at the G20 summit for the sixth consecutive time since it was first hosted by the US in 2008, is also likely to push through India`s agenda for voluntary exchange of tax information to curb black money.