Pretoria, October 2
South Africa declared today that once the US Congress cleared the Indo-US nuclear accord and it reached the nuclear suppliers’ group, it would fully support India’s case.
The South African President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, made this announcement soon after he and the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, signed the Tshwane Declaration that reaffirms the strategic partnership between South Africa and India.
Mr Mbeki said that the nuclear supplier’s group of which South Africa is a member discussed the issue at its recent meeting held at Brasilia but it could not be resolved. He assured India that South Africa would take a sympathetic view of India’s need to tap nuclear energy to meet its growing needs of power.
South Africa is one of the largest producers of uranium. Earlier, the Prime Minister hoped that South Africa would support India’s cause when the nuclear issue came up at the meeting of the nuclear suppliers’ group.
The South African president also supported India’s view on the restructuring of the UN Security Council. On his part, Dr Manmohan Singh announced that India would strongly support South Africa’s inclusion as a member of the Security Council whenever the restructuring of the UN body took place. The two leaders discussed the issue of UN reforms during their bilateral talks early today.
When asked whether Gandhiji’s concept of Satyagraha would have a practical bearing on pursuing their global agenda, Mr Mbeki said in a lighter vein that he and Dr Manmohan Singh would not launch themselves into civil disobedience but they would certainly abide by the values cherished by Gandhi in all that they did.
Mr Mbeki said South Africa had a lot to learn from the way in which India had been dealing with terrorism. He wanted closer cooperation in fighting terrorism, particularly through exchange of intelligence and information. “The South African police would gain by the experience of the Mumbai police in nabbing the terrorists who executed the recent serial blasts in that city”.
He said it was difficult to say that the global war on terror was succeeding or not. But the very fact that the war on terror was not over indicated that the last word on terror had not been uttered.
Mr Mbeki said India and South Africa would strive to have a comprehensive convention on international terrorism adopted by the United Nations as part of their bid to end the scourge of terrorism.
In his opening remarks at the joint press conference, the Prime Minister expressed satisfaction over the steady growth in the multi-dimensional relationship between the two countries. He
said South Africa was India’s biggest trading partner in Africa. The rapid growth of the Indian economy offered significant opportunities to both sides. Already, several Indian companies had their operations in South Africa. The Prime Minister referred to the India-South Africa CEO’s Forum which was being held today and hoped that it would provide further momentum to economic cooperation in certain jointly identified priority sectors.
The Prime Minister extended an invitation to Mr Mbeki to visit India at the earliest opportunity.
The Tshwane Declaration reaffirmed the need for a decision regarding the expansion of the Security Council without which no reform of the UN would be complete. The two leaders reiterated their conviction that the Security Council must be expanded to include developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America in both its permanent and non-permanent categories, so as to reflect contemporary realities and make it more democratic and representative, and resolved to pursue a decision in this regard.
They also expressed their deep concern over international terrorism, extremism, trans-border organized crime and illicit trafficking in humans and in arms and drugs. They said the ultimate objective was the total eradication of terrorism so that barbaric acts such as the ones carried out on July 11, 2006, in Mumbai and other parts of the world did not occur.
The two leaders listed a number of areas like science and technology in which India and South Africa could strengthen their relations. The Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Anand Sharma, signed on behalf of India a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation in the field of education. An MoU between Indian Railways and Spoornet was also signed today.
