NEW DELHI, 20 November 2003 — Interaction among nations must be based on co-existence not conflict, cooperation not confrontation and concord and no coercion, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said yesterday while presenting the 2002 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to former Commonwealth Secretary-General Sir Shridath Ramphal. Kalam emphasized that violent conflicts are an enemy of development. Asserting that globalization has come to stay and that “pace of transformation of the world into a global village has accelerated,” Kalam emphasized, “globalization is inevitable and unavoidable and the need of the hour is for humanity to collectively make endeavors to transform the process of globalization into a positive phenomenon.”
Ramphal used the occasion to highlight the emerging need of a new coalition of the majority against the dominant prowess of a few. He said, “The architecture of peace in our time will have to be developed by a coalition of the many who are right, though they are separately weak; not by the few who are wrong, though they are singularly strong. Criticizing the US occupation of Iraq, Ramphal emphasized the significant message being conveyed by people throughout the world through their protests.
