We are a coalition government, and that limits our options in some ways. Privatization happens to be one such area.

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 sincerely hope that whatever influence the United States has in Pakistan, it will convince Pakistan that using terrorism as an instrument of state policy has no place in the world that we want to build.

In a world in which technology is changing at such a fast pace, where demand conditions change very fast, we need to look at a more innovative mechanism to cut down on this rigmarole of many tiers of decision-making processes.

The first and foremost priority is to finish the unfinished task which the founding fathers of India set out for us at the time of our independence: to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance, and disease, which have afflicted millions and millions of our people.

A new India which realizes its destiny in the framework of an open society, in the framework of an open economy, respecting all fundamental human freedoms great respect for pluralistic, inclusive value system. I think that's what unites India and the United States. And I do hope that working together, our two countries can write a new chapter in the history of our relationship.

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.