PM heads home after attending two summits in Russia

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for home on Wednesday after winding up a three-day visit to this Russian city where he attended two multi-lateral summits and met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari for the first time since the Mumbai terror attacks.
     
On his first visit abroad after being re-elected Prime Minister, Singh gave a tough message to Pakistan asking him not to allow his country's territory to be used for terrorism against India.  "I am extremely happy to meet you, but my mandate is limited to telling you that the territory of Pakistan must not be allowed to be used for terrorism against India," Singh told Zardari in front of TV cameras as the two sat for talks.
    
Singh attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), where India holds the observer status, and became the first Indian Prime Minister to address the summit on Tuesday. The SCO summit was attended by heads of state of member nations China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and leaders of observer nations Mongolia, India, Pakistan and Iran.
    
Addressing the summit, Singh said: "the spectre of terrorism, extremist ideologies and illicit drug trafficking haunt our region". At the BRIC summit, he pitched for implementation of the decisions of the London Summit of G-20 which had identified the steps to tackle the global financial crisis.

At the first Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) Summit, Singh proposed setting up of a Joint Business Forum among member nations as part of efforts to ensure that the G-20 process is backed up by cooperation in "real economy". In the backdrop of global meltdown, India, Russia, China and Brazil pitched for "greater voice and representation" of developing economies in international financial institutions and demanded curbing of trade protectionism.
     
In a joint statement, the four countries underlined the "strong need for a stable, predictable and more diversified international monetary system." Singh also sought closer interaction between India and SCO members to convert the global economic crisis into an opportunity for greater economic cooperation. He met Chinese president Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the SCO summit and the two leaders favoured early meeting of their bilateral Joint Economic Group, with an aim to devise common strategies on emerging global financial matters.
     
During the 45-minute meeting that ended at around midnight, the two leaders discussed various aspects of the bilateral relations and global issues of mutual interest. Singh also met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and held deliberations on wide range of subjects covering bilateral, terrorism and regional issues like Afghanistan. The two are understood to have discussed ways to give a fresh momentum to already "flowering" bilateral relations.