If certain facilities, local facilities have to be arranged, the local authorities have to come. And that makes the Indian system slow moving, Indian administrative system slow moving.

I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

India has, of course, aspirations of getting out of its poverty, ignorance, and disease which still afflict millions of people. But I do believe that we have something to offer to the rest of the world, including the United States.

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.

I think there are enormous possibilities. And today there are no I think barriers to increased cooperation with India and the United States.

70 percent of India's imports of oil and oil products are imported from abroad. There is uncertainty about supply. There is uncertainty about prices. And that hurts India's development.