PM arrives after 'successful' Russia visit

New Delhi, Jul 18: Prime Minister Manmoham Singh arrived here today from Saint Petersburg after attending the G8 Summit.

During his two-day visit, India scored a major diplomatic victory when the international community collectively denunciated the Mumbai and Srinagar blasts on July 11.

In a strongly-worded statement, the G8 and its outreach partners condemned the blasts and recognised the need for bringing the ''sponsors'' of terrorism to book.

Even US President George W Bush assured New Delhi full support in dealing with terrorism.

During his bilateral meeting with Mr Bush on the sidelines of the Summit, Dr Singh extracted an assurance that the US had no plan to ''shift the goal post'' relating to the Indo-US nuclear deal and that the proposed American law to ratify the agreement would be within the parameters of the July 18, 2005 joint statement and the separation plan for India's nuclear facilities presented in Parliament.

India had also several other gains at the summit as the G8 had accepted many of its views on the agenda items, global energy security, education and health, which were reflected in the statements issued by the group of highly industrialised, rich and powerful nations of the world.

Dr Singh also had a bilateral meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Dr Singh also attended the first-ever Summit-level trilateral talks between India, Russia and China.

He also had separate meetings with leaders of the outreach nations, Brazil, South Africa, China and Mexico, besides Congo and Kazakhstan.

UNI

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