London:
Conservative leader David Cameron, the youngest British Prime Minister in almost 200 years, favours a "new special relationship" with India and supports its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
Forty three-year-old Cameron, whose party bagged the maximum 306 seats in the May 6 polls, took over as the new Prime Minister on Tuesday night after incumbent Gordon Brown tendered his resignation to Queen Elizabeth.
India was the first country Cameron visited after taking over as the Conservative leader in 2006.
He has promised to forge a "new special relationship" with India and support New Delhi's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security council.
His party's manifesto says that the Conservatives will "work to establish a new special relationship with India, the world's largest democracy."
It also commits the party to "work towards greater stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan".
Cameron wrote in an article after visiting New Delhi: "India is the world's largest democracy, a rapidly growing economy, a huge potential trading partner, a diverse society with a strong culture of pluralism, and a key regional player - a force for stability in a troubled part of the world."
He added: "So this is India's time. For most of the past half century we in the West have assumed that we set the pace and we set the global agenda. Well now we must wake up to a new reality. We have to share global leadership with India, and with China.
"And we must recognise that India has established beyond argument, through its economic and political success, its right to a seat at the top table. India, one of the great civilisations of the world, is truly great again."
At 43, Cameron is the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. Liverpool had assumed office at the age of 42.
Forty three-year-old Cameron, whose party bagged the maximum 306 seats in the May 6 polls, took over as the new Prime Minister on Tuesday night after incumbent Gordon Brown tendered his resignation to Queen Elizabeth.
India was the first country Cameron visited after taking over as the Conservative leader in 2006.
He has promised to forge a "new special relationship" with India and support New Delhi's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security council.
His party's manifesto says that the Conservatives will "work to establish a new special relationship with India, the world's largest democracy."
It also commits the party to "work towards greater stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan".
Cameron wrote in an article after visiting New Delhi: "India is the world's largest democracy, a rapidly growing economy, a huge potential trading partner, a diverse society with a strong culture of pluralism, and a key regional player - a force for stability in a troubled part of the world."
He added: "So this is India's time. For most of the past half century we in the West have assumed that we set the pace and we set the global agenda. Well now we must wake up to a new reality. We have to share global leadership with India, and with China.
"And we must recognise that India has established beyond argument, through its economic and political success, its right to a seat at the top table. India, one of the great civilisations of the world, is truly great again."
At 43, Cameron is the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. Liverpool had assumed office at the age of 42.
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