Growing proximity with US in India's own interest: PM

New Delhi, Mar 14: Asserting that it was in India's interest to come closer to the United States (US), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Mar 14, 2006) strongly repudiated critics that New Delhi had pawned its sovereignty while entering into a nuclear deal with Washington.

Replying to a day-long discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the working of the External Affairs Ministry, Dr Singh pointed out to the present day reality that the US was, after all, the pre-eminent global power.

''It is in India's interest to engage with the United States....'' The Prime Minister, however, made it clear that coming closer to the US did not mean aligning with it.

In this context, he recalled that during his US visit last year he had described the invasion of Iraq as ''a mistake''.

Dr Singh observed that India's foreign policy was guided by its national interest and ancient values with their primary focus being removal of poverty, illiteracy and diseases. ''Our foreign policy should aim at achieving these goals....'' In order to achieve these ends, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of building bridges of understanding with major exporters of technology and capital like the US, European Union, Japan, Russia and China. ''As a result, we shall be able to lend speed to our development process,'' he said.

UNI

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