No country is insulated against this world crisis-and the crisis, [according to] so many experts and pundits, has just started. They don't even know what the actual concept of the problem is. The world has to wait and see how things settle down in the United States and then that will affect the whole world, because 60 percent of the world economy is in the United States..

You vowed in your inaugural address that you would eliminate the "cancer" of domestic terrorism. Can you elaborate on the means to rid the country of this "cancer?"

The major ingredient needed to get rid of this "cancer" was democracy, and democracy means people's own choice and people's will to rid themselves of this problem. That basic ingredient has come with my election, because the will has come around and a democratically elected president is in place in Pakistan. The Parliament is functioning. It will bring the will of the people into this issue. And the will of the people is to survive. We want to be safe and, with the help of the population, we intend to make sure that we defeat the terrorists.

How about cooperation with the international community in this regard?

We've made good progress in China, where we've been able to bring to the attention of the government in China our problems and they've assured us of great help on it. So we are going to get money and technology to assist us in this issue.

We are already in cooperation with the United States on this problem. We have proposed the new concept of "Friends of Pakistan" to Britain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and China. The concept is to regionally look at the conflict and regionally look at the problem, because it's not the problem of Pakistan alone. It's the problem of the region and it has to be first addressed by the region. Although we need support from the United States, the G8, all the European countries and NATO, the ownership has to be regional because the problem is regional. Unless the regional powers are on board, we cannot solve this problem, and in that regard I had discussions with the Chinese Government and they are willing to help us.

You met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while attending the UN General Assembly last month in New York, and the two sides agreed to work for "an early and full normalization" of relations. What concrete measures will you take to achieve that goal?

Bilateral discussions are ongoing. We are hoping to encourage the bilateral dialogue, and at the same time we are hoping to have an early meeting with my colleagues in India. At the same time, we've set up a caucus in the National Assembly of Pakistan. In my first speech I mentioned that caucus, which will be looking at a bilateral way of solving problems in the bilateral relations. So all issues should be taken to the Parliament. In the same fashion, democracies do not go to war. Democracies go for peace. So this issue will be taken to the Parliament and people's wisdom will be taken. We have all the political parties sitting in the Assembly. We will take their counsel and move forward toward improving our relationship with India.

Which is your top priority at home: political stability, economic development or antiterrorism?

All three. One cannot go without the other. One cannot ignore any of those three concepts. All three need to be worked upon simultaneously.

And how do you coordinate them?

That is what the federation is all about and what the presidential office is all about, coordination. It's not very complicated because if you're running a state, it's all part of functioning of governance.