PM smiles as G20 sees need to invest in infrastructure

India, desperately seeking foreign investment in its weak infrastructure, got a moral boost at the end of the G20 summit in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos on Tuesday, as the group of the world's 20 most economically influential nations agreed to give priority to investment in infrastructure in developing countries as a way to stimulate global growth.

"We will intensify our efforts to create a more conducive environment for development, including supporting infrastructure investment," said a 14-page declaration released after the seventh G20 summit. The declaration said G20 recognised the impact of the continuing economic crisis on developing countries, particularly low income countries.

"The Los Cabos declaration fully reflects our initiative that investment on infrastructure in developing countries can play a major role in strengthening development and in stimulating global recovery," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement after the summit.

He has reason to be pleased, as many of India's suggestions have been incorporated in the declaration. ''Eurozone leaders recognize the need to move beyond the present monetary union towards unified banking supervision and adoption of common and enforceable fiscal rules,'' Singh said.

Earlier, after announcing a $10 billion grant to ailing Eurozone countries, Singh had said the crisis was their own fault. He also said austerity measures alone were not enough, and economic growth was also needed alongside.

"Investment in infrastructure is necessary as means of stimulating global growth," he said at the plenary session of the summit of the G20, which accounts for 80 per cent of the global output. "It lays the foundation for rapid growth in the longer term while providing an immediate stimulus for their economies and also for the global economy by providing a robust source of demand."