My top most priority is to deal with India's massive social and economic problems, so that chronic poverty, ignorance and disease can be conquered in a reasonably short period of time.

I sincerely believe what happens in India has, I think, lessons, morals for the future evolution of humankind in the 21st century.

When I became finance minister in 1991, I discovered that the wealth tax rates income - there was taxation on wealth. It was so atrocious and so high that actually nobody could accumulate money in an honest way. I removed that tax, and the result was that Indian companies for the first time acquired an incentive to grow big, to grow rich.

There are diverse ways in which - right now, terror and all that goes with it is a prime concern. It's a concern of the United States. It's a concern of India. Joint strategies, cooperation, joint sharing of intelligence, in controlling terrorism, in making the world free from terror. I think that's the fundamental, I think, consideration if our development aspirations are to be fulfilled. And I think our two countries can cooperate.

Working together in helping nascent democracies in the task of reconstruction, in the task of development is another area where our two countries [India and the USA] can work together.

The service of India means the service of those teeming millions steeped in poverty, ignorance and disease. To see that in my lifetime we can soften these harsh edges of extreme poverty and unleash a new economic and social revolution which will bring out the latent creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of our people, I think that's what I feel, I think.

I do recognize that India has to be the center, the hub of activity as far as the knowledge economy is concerned.