| "India and the US have both suffered grievously from terrorism and we must make common cause against it," he said addressing the joint session of the US Congress. "We cannot be selective in this area," he said, pointing out that terrorism anywhere threatened democracies everywhere. |
| Democracies, he emphasised, could not be soft on terrorism, for it exploited "the freedom our open societies provide to destroy our freedom". |
| "We know that those who resort to terror often clothe it in the garb of real or imaginary grievances. We must affirm that no grievance can justify resort to terror," he said. |
| During the 40-minute address, Singh touched on a wide- range of issues and spoke about India's commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, economic reforms and strengthening multi-lateral trading systems and work with the US and other partners for a successful outcome of the Doha Round. |
| Talking about India's impeccable track record in nuclear non-proliferation, he said "we have adhered scrupulously to every rule and cannon in this area. We have done so even though we witnessed unchecked nuclear proliferation in our own neighbourhood which has directly affected our security interests." |
| India, he said, had done so because, "as a responsible nuclear power," it is fully conscious of immense responsibilities that come with the possession of advanced technologies, both civilian and strategic. "We have never been, and will never be, a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies," he said. |
| Laying stress on the importance of cooperation between India and the US in the field of civil nuclear energy on which he reached an understanding with Bush yesterday, Singh said India must tap the full potential of nuclear energy along with investments in new oil and gas exploration and in enhanced recovery of oil and gas from available fields. |
| "The US can help in all these areas. I am happy to say that we have initiated an Energy dialogue with the US to explore the scope of cooperation in each of these areas in the years ahead," he told the Congress. |
| Bush and I agreed yesterday on a global initiative to help build democratic capacities in all societies that seek such assistance," the Prime Minister said, adding the capacities they had in mind are those related to the electoral, parliamentary, judicial and human rights processes of emerging democracies. |
| Referring to growing Indo-American cooperation, the Prime Minister said US firms were leading the foreign investment drive and 400 of the Fortune 500 were in India. |
| They produce for the Indian market and will hopefully also source supplies from India for their global supply chains, he said, adding, "We welcome this involvement and look forward to further expansion in the years ahead." |
| The Prime Minister said India is also conscious that plans to meet energy requirements will have implications for the environment. This, he said, is especially so since any energy scenario for the country will involve heavy dependence on coal. |
| "Clean coal technologies that can make an impact need to be developed and should be affordable for poorer countries. On the reform of the United Nations, he said "there must be comprehensive reform of the United Nations to make it more effective and also more representative. The UN Security Council must be restructured as part of the reform process," he said. "...The voice of the world's largest democracy surely cannot be left unheard on the Security Council when the United Nations is being restructured," he added. |
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