Asia needs India for post-Covid cooperation

India's pivotal position in South Asia, its strong economic ties with ASEAN+6 countries and its presence in the G20 make its participation critical

Four months into the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is still facing a he­alth crisis and the prospect of lasting economic stagnation. International economic cooperation will be vital to managing the crisis and supporting recovery through trade, stabilising markets, rapid reopening of business supply chains and resumption of international travel. Countries in Asia are stru­ggling to reconcile health imperatives with ec­onomic revival. Failure to navigate judiciously between these two will cause avoidable deaths, intensify economic hardship (highly regressive within countries and across the globe) and deepen social disruption.

The task of defining a sustainable way forward is urgent. Strategic competition between