New Delhi, February 12
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today briefed his Russian counterpart Victor A. Zubkov on his government’s ongoing efforts to finalise a safeguards agreement with the IAEA.
The two Prime Ministers also discussed “all aspects” of Indo-Russian relations and vowed to take their strategic partnership from strength to strength.
Manmohan Singh’s discussion with Zubkov about his government’s efforts to sign an India-specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a first step to operationalise the Indo-US nuclear deal assumes significance as an Indian team has already reached Vienna.
The upcoming fifth round of India-IAEA talks is expected to be the final round. Moreover, Russia continues to hold sway over Indian Left parties.
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat today gave clear indications of its uncompromising stand on the Indo-US nuclear deal when he went on record saying in Kottayam that the CPM was determined not to let the deal go through till President George W. Bush's term is over.
Karat said his party will not allow the UPA to finalise a safeguards agreement with the IAEA till the US presidential elections are over.
Karat said India could discuss the nuclear energy issue with other countries like France, Britain, Russia after the next US President takes charge.
The Russian Prime Minister appreciated the Indian decision not to sign a bilateral civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement with any other country till the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group make necessary adjustments to allow international nuclear commerce with India.
India will open up a whopping $500 billion market for the world after the Indo-US nuclear deal is operationalised and the beneficiaries will be those countries which sign a bilateral civil nuke pact with India.
After their one-to-one and delegation-level talks, the two Prime Ministers jointly inaugurated the Year of Russia in India at a gala concert in Purana Qila.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his opening statement at the joint press interaction with Zubkov at Hyderabad House that the two countries had finalised negotiations in regard to reaching an agreement on cooperation in the construction of additional nuclear power plants in India.
The two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to build upon their defence relations which is an important pillar of the Indo-Russian Strategic Partnership.
The two Prime Ministers agreed to re-double their efforts to tap the full potential of the two economies and diversify their trade basket by expanding cooperation in sectors such as minerals, diamonds, transport and infrastructure, investment and services, and high technology.
“For this, we will operationalise the Joint Task Force to implement
recommendations to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2010 and consider a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement,” Manmohan Singh said.
The two sides signed two agreements to
bolster economic and cultural ties. One was a memorandum on the development of cooperation in law enforcement matters between
India’s Central Board of Excise and Customs and Russia’s Federal Customs Service, while the second one related to cooperation in the field
of Archives between the National Archives of India and Federal Archival Agency of
Russia.
