India and Britain on Monday agreed to establish a “new, broad and high-level bilateral dialogue on terror financing”. Experts from Britain’s anti-terrorist financing unit will come to India shortly to meet officials of financial institutions and Government departments to understand, analyse and track the financing of terror modules in the two countries, sources said. UK also reaffirmed its support to the Indo-US nuclear deal and asked for an appropriate “India-specific exemption to the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines”.

British PM Gordon Brown reiterated support for India’s bid for the UN Security Council seat, following the footsteps of his predecessor Tony Blair, and said, “India is the world’s largest democracy and one of the fastest growing economies of the world... and India should get its rightful place.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Today, there is a broad agreement that international institutions, if they have to be credible, can’t ignore India. I don’t underestimate the difficulties in reforming them (UN), but it is in the interest of the world that UNSC should have representation of contemporary realities.”

Both sides agreed to “urge Iran to co-operate fully with the IAEA and fulfil the requirements of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions to address international concerns about its nuclear programme”.

On Pakistan, the two sides “shared the hope that Pakistan would see an early return to stability and prosperity” and recognised the importance of free and fair elections on February 18.

On Myanmar, the two countries agreed that “the process of national reconciliation and political reform in Myanmar should be inclusive, broad-based and taken forward expeditiously.”

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