"India has been an excellent partner in non-proliferation over the past decades and, therefore, I can tell the American people that this is an important agreement to help deal with the proliferation issue," he said during an interaction with 16 young entrepreneurs at the Indian School of Business here.

"For India, it makes sense because it will enable India to be able to meet its electricity needs in a way that doesn't pollute the air. The United States and India must use technologies to ensure our economies expand but (we must also be) good stewards of the environment," the president maintained.

"A classic opportunity for American farmers and entrepreneurs is to understand a 300-million-person market of middle class citizens here in India; that if we can make a product they want at a reasonable price then all of a sudden people will be able to have a market here," he said.

India has always been important but "other considerations" had prevented previous administrators from recognising this. "The Cold War is over," Bush said, alluding to changing geopolitical realities in a unipolar world.

"The other is to say losing jobs is painful so let's make sure people are educated so they can find and fill the jobs of the 21st century," he maintained.

"And let's make sure there are pro-growth economic policies in place. What does this mean? It means low taxes, it means less regulation, it means fewer lawsuits, it means wise energy policies.

"The United States will reject protectionism. We don't fear competition, we welcome competition. We won't fear the future either, because we intend to shape it with our policies.

Most of the participants at the interaction were from famous business houses. They included Satish Reddy, son of Reddy's Laboratories chief Anji Reddy, Sidhartha Sanghi of Sanghi Group and Salman Babu Khan of Babu Khan Group.

A collaborative venture by about 50 Indian and multinational corporate houses, the Rs.3 billion ISB was inaugurated in December 2001. It has partnership Agreements with the Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School, and the London Business School.

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