St Petersburg: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday brought up India's concerns over terrorism in his meeting with US President George W Bush and also conveyed his anxieties on some aspects of the US legislation on the nuclear deal between the two nations.
In a 30-minute meeting with the US President in St Petersburg on Monday morning on the margins of the G8 Summit, Singh said he was truly pained to see the suffering of innocent people in Mumbai who were victims of terror attacks last Tuesday.
Though Singh did not raise the issue of Islamabad's alleged support to terror groups that target India in his opening remarks, he later told Bush that cross-border terrorism was becoming a menace for India, officials said.
Using the terror attacks in Mumbai and Srinagar - which killed over 200 and left about 800 injured – Manmohan Singh also said G8 leaders must stand united with India in the war against terror and thanked its leaders for their initiative against terrorism.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and National Security Advisor M K Narayanan at the talks, while Bush was assisted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
During the meeting, where the two leaders touched upon several aspects of US-India ties, Manmohan Singh also raised the issue of the civilian nuclear deal between the two countries - conceived exactly a year ago.
He said New Delhi had concerns over some aspects of the legislation for granting permanent waiver in the US Congress for nuclear supplies to India.
He did not elaborate on what India's concerns were, but said it was a matter for worry for the Indian Parliament as well.
"We have a Parliament that is very zealous of what we do," the Prime Minister said. He added that the deal was a "permanent reconciliation in India-America relations".
Bush, too, referred to the proposed nuclear cooperation agreement.
"I look forward to this wonderful deal you and I negotiated moving ahead," Bush said, referring to the July 18, 2005, joint statement issued by the two leaders in Washington, which set in motion the process to strike an agreement.
Raising other issues with Bush, Singh also referred to relations between the two countries in the area of agriculture and said it was all the more important for India since 65 per cent of its population lived on farms.
"The knowledge initiative between us should usher a second green revolution," Singh said, adding that India already has a road map for the two countries to consider in this regard.
Singh also said that the chief executives' forum formed by the two sides were doing some good work and hoped some road maps would be set to take the forum's recommendations forward.
The meeting with Bush was the second bilateral engagement Manmohan Singh had on the margins of the G8 summit, to which he is a special invitee with the leaders of China, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Congo.
Singh had met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva on Sunday evening.
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