The 1984 anti-Sikh riots should never have happened, a concerned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday but at the same time appealed to the Sikh community to "move on" to let the wounds of the tragedy heal.
Discussing the issue threadbare, the leaders of the developed and fast developing economies declared that though the financial sector should make a fair and substantial contribution towards paying for any bailouts, policy should take into account each nation's 'circumstances and options.'
The G-20 countries on Monday called for striking a balance between stimulus measures to sustain economic expansion and reducing fiscal deficit to tackle the mess of government finances.
Dr Singh briefed Obama about the peace initiatives with Pakistan, but made it clear that Islamabad should abide by its commitment of not to allow terrorism emanating from its soil directed against India.
The Group of 20 nations has welcomed the strategies by member countries to phase out oil subsidies -- a bold move followed by India that only on June 25 raised petrol, diesel and cooking fuel prices.
Eyeing more than nine per cent growth rate for Indian economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said exciting opportunities await India and Canada for mutual cooperation to raise their bilateral trade three-fold to $15 billion within the next five years.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Stephen Harper hailed the signature of the nuclear agreement after their one-on-one and delegation level talks that will provide for cooperation in civil nuclear energy, including import of uranium and equipment from Canada.
"Nuclear material supplied to India will be fully safeguarded in terms of agreement signed with IAEA. We have foolproof system of export controls. We have complete civilian control and there is no scope for any nuclear material or equipment whatsoever being supplied going for any unintended purpose," Dr Singh told a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper after the two countries signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.
"It is a trip that I'm very much looking forward to, and I know that the prime minister and his gracious wife will extend great hospitality to us. We are also just excited because of the tremendous cultural, as well as political and social and economic examples that India is providing the world and has in the past," he said.
Ahead of the meeting of the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in New York, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday urged Pakistan to shed its mindset of using terror as an instrument of state policy against New Delhi and take action against those involved in the terror attack on Mumbai. He made it clear that there was no change in India's stand on Pakistan since the Sharm-el-Sheikh talks with his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Dr Singh made a strong pitch for restoring the momentum of growth in the developing world at the G-20 Summit and said there is need to replace lost export demand and to expand investment.
In an unusual declaration ahead of the start of the G-20 Summit, Obama, flanked by President Nicholas Sarkozy of France and Premier Gordon Brown of Britain, announced they had detailed information that Iran is building a secret uranium enrichment facility near Qom, 160 km south of Tehran, for the past few years, which is not consistent with its energy needs.
The leaders from the US, UK, France, China and others reached a historic agreement to put the group at the centre of their efforts to build a roadmap for durable recovery, avoiding the financial fragilities that led to the crisis.
Hosts of the summit and Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, in his opening remarks at the summit of the two groupings yesterday, suggested some sort of a G-14 saying the G-8 and G-5 represented about 80 per cent of the world and 'we may consider this as a stable format of the future'.
Ahead of the G-8 meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for significant reforms of the international financial institutions to address global problems and asserted that India would seek its due place in such institutions.
India hopes to increase its share in the quotas of multilateral development banks like the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank after major stakeholders in them bring forward the issue of quota review and expanding in accordance with current realities that will give proper representation to the emerging economies.
Seeking to reform the failed regulatory systems and put an end to "bubble and bust economy", US President Barack Obama said that G-20 has rejected protectionism and America was also dedicated to forging consensus rather than dictating its own terms.
Warning that the financial meltdown has exploded into a systemic crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asked world leaders to work on a coordinated fiscal package to tackle recession that is hitting India and other developing countries.
In a veiled reference to events in Pakistan and perhaps forces at home, Dr Singh said the rise of non-state actors, often based on intolerance, and narrow conceptions of identity, was a threat to all civilised nations.
Building on the goodwill generated by the landmark handshake between the world's two powerful armies last month in Kumming in China, the two leaders decided to have a second military exercise in India.
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