India is part of Outreach Five or the Plus Five which have participated as guests in previous G-8 meetings. The other members are Brazil, China, Mexico and South Africa.

In a departure from the Bush administration’s stand on global warming and climate change, McCain stressed that the risks of global warming has no borders and the US had to lead by example.

“We need a successor to the Kyoto Treaty, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically responsible manner. We Americans must lead by example and encourage the participation of the rest of the world, including most importantly, the developing economic powerhouses of China and India,” he added.

In contrast the Bush administration has been putting the onus on India and China over cutting greenhouse emissions.

“There is such a thing as international good citizenship. We need to be good stewards of our planet and join with other nations to help preserve our common home. The risks of global warming have no borders. We and the other nations of the world must get serious about substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years or we will hand off a much-diminished world to our grandchildren,” McCain said.

On terrorism, McCain while favouring the “aggressive” strategy of the current administration, called for the closure of the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison housing terrorism suspects and repudiated torture.

“America must be a model citizen if we want others to look to us as a model. We must fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are the foundation of our society. We can’t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists,” he said.