Thursday, April 2, 2009

India, US to counter terror together: Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama Thursday held their first bilateral talks and agreed to intensify strategic partnership in all areas, including fighting terrorism.
Developments in Pakistan and Afghanistan figured prominently in the discussion between the two leaders.
During the talks, Manmohan Singh made clear that Pakistan must show absolute sincerity in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to book before the talks can be resumed between the two countries.
'We discussed development in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We both agreed that our two countries must work together to counter the forces of terror,' Manmohan Singh replied when asked about his first meeting with President Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit here.
'We have a global strategic partnership with the US. We both have agreed that there are enormous opportunities to strengthen this relationship and to make it more productive and durable.'
He described the discussion as 'useful and productive' that focused on development of bilateral relations and how problems of the region can be resolved by interaction between the two countries.
Apart from the global financial meltdown, the two leaders discussed the entire array of bilateral, regional and global issues, including terrorism, energy security, climate change and the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

No comments: