PM to push for 'zero tolerance' to terror

On his departure from New Delhi to the outreach session of the G8 summit in St Petersburgh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, "I am visiting St Petersburg to participate in this summit with the expectation that it will provide a useful opportunity for discussion between industrialised countries and developing economies on issues such as security, world trade and globalisation."

"Terrorism is a scourge that has afflicted different parts of the world. The tragic human cost it entails was brought forth once again in the recent Srinagar and Mumbai blasts. I wish to impress upon the leaders at G8 that the international community must adopt an approach of zero-tolerance towards terrorism anywhere in the world," the prime minister said.

"The international community must isolate and condemn terrorists wherever they attack and whatever cause they stand for, as also whichever group or country supports them," he added.

Prime Minister Singh said he looked forward to meeting American President George W Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jin Tao, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Kuizomi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

"I will also participate in the first trilateral summit with Russia and China," Prime Minister Singh added.