New Delhi, September 14
Mongolia today became the fifth nation to sign a civil nuclear pact with India as New Delhi extended a 25 million US dollar soft loan to the Central Asian nation to help it mitigate the effects of the global financial meltdown.
The two countries also inked agreements for cooperation in the fields of health, cultural exchanges and statistical affairs. The accords were signed after wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.
In a joint press interaction after the talks, Manmohan Singh said the two countries had reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations and discussed issues of mutual concern. He said the two countries had agreed on deeper cooperation in the field of mining and agriculture. The two leaders also stressed on bilateral investment protection and considering ways to avoid double taxation.
Great significance is being attached to the MoU between the two countries on ‘development of cooperation in the field of peaceful use of radioactive minerals and nuclear energy’. Mongolia’s huge uranium reserves are expected to boost and energise India’s starving civil nuclear fuel cycle.
India has already signed nuclear deals with France, Russia, the US and Kazakhstan after it got
an exemption from the nuclear suppliers’ group (NSG) in September last year to undertake nuclear commerce.
Mongolia, which claims to have 6 per cent of the world’ uranium reserves, is not a member of the NSG. However, it had supported India’s case for a clean waiver at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting prior to the NSG meet.
Nuclear experts believe that the supply of uranium is more crucial for India than access to enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology.
Mongolia’s decision could be a big surprise for Australia, which has refused to supply uranium to India as it was not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). India hopes Australia would also give up its reservation sooner rather than later and agree to supply uranium to India.
The visiting Mongolian President was earlier in the day accorded a ceremonial welcome by President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He held talks during the day with a wide spectrum of the Indian leadership.
