INDORE: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday underlined the importance of a "constructive dialogue" with the world community and said that the country would soon be part of the mainstream after reaching full civilian nuclear cooperation with international partners.

Dr. Singh was speaking at a special function held here on Saturday to rename the Centre for Advanced Technology of the Department of Atomic Energy as the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology and dedicate the Synchrotron Radiation Source Indus II to the nation.

The Prime Minister said the scientific and technological abilities of the country's scientists "undoubtedly" match the best the world over. "This gives us the confidence to pursue increased exchanges with the outside world with India as an equal partner with the most advanced countries."

Dr. Singh said the country's non-proliferation track record and scientific credentials would add to the country's weight in international cooperative endeavours to harness all the applications of nuclear energy for the country's social and economic development for meeting the growing energy needs and for greater glory of global scientific advancement. In this "exciting journey of excellence", the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology would have a critical role to play, the Prime Minister emphasised.

Dr. Singh paid rich tributes to Dr. Ramanna and said that he was instrumental in setting up the Centre for Advanced Technology in 1974.

The centre was established to master advanced technology, especially in the areas of lasers and accelerators. The progress achieved by the Centre vindicated Dr. Ramanna's vision by contributing to the nation's needs as well as by placing India on the international nuclear map, he said. The centre had played a pivotal role in delivering high quality of components and substances for the world's biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, being set up by CERN in Geneva.

Dr. Singh congratulated the Department of Atomic Energy on its achievement as India had last week joined a select group of countries participating in the International Thermo Nuclear Experimental Reactor Project (ITER).

Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar stressed the need for strengthening the value chain from basic research to field deployment and said it was the same spirit that helped in achieving the capability to build Indus II that could support a large user community.

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