Bush: U.S. shouldn't see India as threat
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-03 20:25

Bush saw new homes and buildings under construction — evidence of expanding development in Hyderabad. If he had peeked over a concrete wall along his motorcade route, he also would have gotten a look at impoverished Indians living in corrugated metal shacks topped with tarps. An estimated 80 percent of Indians live on less than $2 a day.

Yet India's middle class has swelled to more than 300 million, a number larger than the entire U.S. population, and India's exploding economy has created millions of jobs. The country's outsourcing industry alone is expected to bring in $22 billion in revenue this fiscal year, much of that generated by U.S. companies.

Bush urged India to untangle bureaucratic snarls that are impeding U.S. investment.

But he said America's best response to globalization is not to erect economic barriers to protect workers, but educate them to make sure they can compete on any stage.

"Globalization provides great opportunities," he said.

On Thursday, Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inked a deal for the United States to provide nuclear fuel, reactors and know-how to help India meet its growing demand for power. In exchange, India declared 14 reactors as commercial facilities that would be open to international inspections for the first time. Its remaining eight reactors would remain designated as military, an endorsement of India's continued development of nuclear weapons even though it won't sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Critics complain the deal undermines the treaty, as well as efforts to prevent states like Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons. The administration 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.

"Yesterday was a way to put the Cold War behind us," Bush said.