Ahead of his departure for the G-20 meeting in Washington to discuss the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that financial institutions in the BIMSTEC region are safe.
"There is no danger to the health of the financial system in the BIMSTEC region (comprising India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand)," Singh said while addressing a press conference at the end of the BIMSTEC summit in New Delhi.
Referring to the banks in India, he said they were well regulated and adequately capitalised.
However, he added that because of the slowdown in the developed countries as a result of the financial turmoil, the growth rates in the developing nations might be affected.
Singh, who is leaving for Washington this evening along with Finance Minister P Chidambaram, said that the G-20 should do everything to ensure that the millenium development goals are not adversely affected.
BIMSTEC is a group of seven countries -- India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
To ensure food security, the prime minister said the leaders discussed two aspects -- how to increase