British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
New Delhi
18 January 2008
Mr Brown will arrive in New Delhi on Sunday for a two-day visit to India, his first as the Prime Minister of Britain. Strengthening education and trade links, and learning from India's experience of promoting cohesion in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, also will engage his attention here.
"[The global institutions] must adapt to meet the new global challenges. At the centre of any change should be an India with a seat on the top table," Mr Gordon Brown said. "[I] will discuss with Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh how best to take forward this reform agenda, which is something the United Kingdom (UK) attach es great importance to."
He will iterate that sentiment in a speech on Monday, which 10 Downing Street has said will be one of his major speeches of 2008. It will dwell on the need for significant modernisation of the international framework of governance in order to make it representative and effective.
Climate change is another issue that will be high on his agenda during the visit to India. Appreciating India's advocacy of common but differentiated responsibility, the British prime minister said in the interview that the developed countries should take responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to a low-carbon, high-growth model of economic development.
"Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution. Caused by developed countries, the weight of responsibility to solve it lies with us," Mr Brown said. "However," he hastened to add, "countries need to act together to have the greatest hope of solving this shared dilemma."
In that context, Mr Brown said that nuclear energy is non-polluting and it can make a significant contribution to limiting climate change. He suggested that, under likely scenarios for gas and carbon prices, new nuclear power stations would yield economic benefits to India in terms of carbon reduction and security of supply.
"The UK and India agree on the potential of civil nuclear energy to be a safe, sustainable and non-polluting source of energy, which could make a significant contribution to meeting the global challenge of achieving energy security, sustainable development, economic growth, and limiting climate change," he said.
The British prime minister reiterated his country's support for the proposed India-United States civil nuclear cooperation agreement. "The UK supports the India-US civil nuclear cooperation initiative. We believe that the deal can make a significant contribution to energy security, development, economic and environment objectives for India and the international community," he said.
Britain has unveiled a new energy policy, the centrepiece of which is a decision to support the building of new nuclear power stations.
Mr Brown said that the UK and India are actively engaged on non-proliferation and arms control issues, too. "We engage with India on a full range of non-proliferation and arms control issues, both bilaterally and through multilateral fora including the UN and organisations related to it, such as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," he said.
He asserted that "such international engagement is increasingly vital in reducing proliferation risks, including that of terrorists gaining access to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons and their means of delivery."
Mr Gordon Brown said that he is looking forward to building on the very close relationship enjoyed by the UK and India during Monday's summit. His discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will centre on how both countries can work together to meet common challenges for the future at all levels be that bilaterally, multilaterally or globally.
"At a bilateral level, [I am] keen to strengthen education and trade links between the two countries," Mr Brown said. A senior level delegation of UK business leaders and heads of some of the UK's top universities will accompany him to India.
"We hope to conclude a number of agreements at the summit. Another important issue for [me] is that of development. The UK hopes that it will be able to work with the Government of India in order to work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals," he said.
Pointing out that India and Britain can learn from each others' experiences when seeking to ensure maximum cohesion among their diverse communities, Mr Brown said, "I am keenly interested to learn more about how the Government of India promotes these values, and how we might enhance our own efforts in the UK."
"Key to this is an emphasis on what our communities have in common: the shared values of freedom, justice and opportunity for all," he said, adding that the UK is like India in that it is a vibrant, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious country.
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