Bush aims to boost economic ties to India
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-03 15:17

President Bush turned Friday to nurturing U.S. economic ties with this rapidly growing nation of one billion, a day after agreeing to help India meet its energy needs while allowing it to continue developing nuclear weapons.

George Bush, right, first lady Laura Bush, center, and Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam stand for the United States national anthem at the start of the State Dinner at Rashtrapati Bhavan, or the President's House, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, March 2, 2006. [AP]

Bush flew here to take in both this city's high-tech activity that is helping to drive rapid economic growth and the rural areas around it that lag behind. Talks with young entrepreneurs at a business school and a tour of the dusty campus of an agricultural college were meant to showcase ways the United States and India can cooperate to spur innovation and crop yields.

At Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Bush watched Indians using sticks and tools to hand-till soil around young peanuts, tomatoes and soybeans.

The president has made improving relations between the oldest and most powerful democracy and the world's largest and fastest-growing one a goal of his administration.

India's booming economy has created millions of jobs along with consumer demands that have attracted American businesses. Though 80 percent of Indians live on less than $2 a day, India's middle class has swelled to 300 million 锟斤拷 more than the population of the United States.

But the U.S. trade deficit with India nearly doubled between 2001 and 2005 to $10 billion. Some Americans also view India as a threat as U.S. jobs drift overseas.

Bush was greeted here by the heavy presence of police and paramilitary soldiers. Black flags flew above buildings in the predominantly Muslim Charminar quarter. Banners in English and Urdu that read, "Bush, the enemy of human rights," were strung over streets. Hundreds of communist party supporters carrying red flags as they gathered for a protest march.

"We are protesting against George Bush because he is a warmonger. We are demanding the evacuation of American troops from Iraq," said B.V. Raghavulu, a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Later Friday, Bush was flying to Pakistan for an overnight visit under tight security to a close ally struggling with terrorism problems. An American diplomat and three other people were killed when a suicide attacker rammed a car packed with explosives into theirs. The bombing on Thursday was in Karachi, about 1,000 miles south of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, where Bush will meet with Pervez Musharraf, the military leader who took power in a 1999 coup.

U.S. officials said there was evidence the U.S. diplomat, foreign service officer David Foy, was targeted.

"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan," Bush said at a news conference on Thursday with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

Bush aides said there were security concerns about the president going to Pakistan but that officials were satisfied adequate precautions were in place. "But this is not a risk-free undertaking," said national security adviser Stephen Hadley.

Eight months in the making, the nuclear accord Bush and Singh announced Thursday would reverse decades of U.S. policy and end India's long isolation as a nuclear maverick that defied world appeals and developed nuclear weapons.

India agreed to separate its tightly entwined nuclear industry 锟斤拷 declaring 14 reactors as commercial facilities and eight as military 锟斤拷 and to open the civilian side to international inspections for the first time. In return, the United States would provide nuclear reactors, fuel and expertise with this energy-starved nation.

The agreement must be approved by Congress, and Bush acknowledged that might be difficult. India still refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, and skeptics worry that India's military nuclear program would remain outside of international safeguards.

"I'm trying to think differently, not stay stuck in the past," said Bush. Celebrating their agreement, Singh said, "We have made history today, and I thank you."

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, gave its endorsement, calling the deal "an important step towards satisfying India's growing need for energy, including nuclear technology and fuel, as an engine for development."

"It would also bring India closer as an important partner in the nonproliferation game," IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said in a statement.

The nuclear agreement drew fire from some in Congress. Critics have complained the deal undermines efforts to prevent states like Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons.

"With one simple move the president has blown a hole in the nuclear rules that the entire world has been playing by and broken his own word to assure that we will not ship nuclear technology to India without the proper safeguards," said Rep. Edward Markey (news, bio, voting record) of Massachusetts, senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

"While I believe that the Congress will support this agreement, it is important to take into consideration the nonproliferation concerns raised by some of my colleagues," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn, said.

The White House said India was unique because it had protected its nuclear technology and not been a proliferator. The administration also argued it was a good deal because it would provide international oversight for part of a program that has been secret since India entered the nuclear age in 1974.

"In its largest sense, in the geopolitical sense, the agreement today removes a basic irritant in the relations between India and the United States over the last 30 years," said Nick Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs."

But the agreement has no impact on India's nuclear weapons program. "It's not a perfect deal in the sense that we haven't captured 100 percent of India's nuclear program," Burns acknowledged.

Bush said helping India with nuclear power would reduce the global demand for energy which has sent gasoline prices soaring.

"To the extent that we can reduce demand for fossil fuels, it will help the American consumer," Bush said.

It also could be a boon for American companies that have been barred from selling reactors and material to India.