Facts about Atal Bihari Vajpayee

"You can change friends but not neighbours"

"In the euphoria after the Cold War, there was a misplaced notion that the UN could solve every problem anywhere"

"The reality is that international institutions like the UN can only be as effective as its members allow it to be"

"Our nuclear weapons are meant purely as a deterrent against nuclear adventure by an adversary"

"We believe that the United States and the rest of the international community can play a useful role by exerting influence on Pakistan to put a permanent and visible end to cross-border terrorism against India"

"There was an implicit conviction that the UN would be stronger than the sum of its constituent member-states"

"Global interdependence today means that economic disasters in developing countries could create a backlash on developed countries"

"The Bio-diversity Convention has not yielded any tangible benefits to the world's poor"

"Poverty is multidimensional. It extends beyond money incomes to education, health care, political participation and advancement of one's own culture and social organisation"

"We hope the world will act in the spirit of enlightened self-interest"

"People who ask us when we will hold talks with Pakistan are perhaps not aware that over the last 55 years, every initiative for a dialogue with Pakistan has invariably come from India"

"The overwhelming public sentiment in India was that no meaningful dialogue can be held with Pakistan until it abandons the use of terrorism as an instrument of its foreign policy"

"No state should be allowed to profess partnership with the global coalition against terror, while continuing to aid, abet and sponsor terrorism"

"The UN's unique legitimacy flows from a universal perception that it pursues a larger purpose than the interests of one country or a small group of countries"