PALACE & PRIME MINISTERS: British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the gardens of the Udaivilas Hotel in Udaipur on Thursday after a meeting. The Palace Hotel, once home to the Udaipur Maharana family, is in the background. _ PHOTO: AP

NEW DELHI: India and Britain will cooperate in civilian nuclear energy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday after talks with his British counterpart, Tony Blair, in Udaipur.

"The United Kingdom recognises the need for a supportive international environment for meeting our pressing energy requirements. We have also agreed that our collective efforts to ensure energy security will be accorded priority," he said at a joint press conference with Mr. Blair at Hyderabad House here.

Dr. Singh said Mr. Blair was supportive of India's atomic energy requirements. India had pointed to the need for changes in the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group for the country to meet its civil atomic energy needs. A reference was made during the discussions to the recent Indo-U.S. nuclear deal.

The two leaders described their talks as successful. They were said to have spent more than an hour at a one-to-one meeting. They agreed fully on the need to battle terrorism, which has taken on a new meaning for the U.K. after the July blasts in London.

"We agreed that there can be no justification whatsoever for terrorism on any grounds — religious, political, ideological or any other. Together with international unity and resolve, we can meet the challenge of this global scourge and work to bring about an international law of zero tolerance for terrorism," Dr. Singh said. He said terrorists had no religion; no religion preached atrocities against innocent men, women and children. Efforts must be made to promote a culture of diversity and tolerance.

Dr. Singh said final touches were given to several agreements, including cooperation in hydrocarbons; a new air services accord; an arrangement on co-production of films and another on intellectual property rights. Mr. Blair said whatever one thought of the "original decision" of invading Iraq, the situation there and in Afghanistan was now being backed by the United Nations. Mr. Blair said India showed that "Muslim people can live in democracy".

Dr. Singh said India's quest for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat was an essay in persuasion and added that a Security Council without India would not be representative of the new global order.

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