Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was in the capital on Monday to lay the ground for president Dmitry Medvedev’s first official visit to India in December.
NEW DELHI: Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was in the capital on Monday to lay the ground for president Dmitry Medvedev’s first official visit to India in December.
India and Russia will sign a nuclear agreement during the president’s visit. The draft agreement is more or less ready and if Moscow had its way, the pact would have been signed during prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Russia last year.
But New Delhi was hesitant to go ahead without first completing the complicated interlocking agreements with the US, which involved the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group. Its decision not to go against the international nuclear non-proliferation regime paid off in the long run, with everything now in place to go ahead with nuclear commerce.
The two ministers also laid the necessary groundwork for the signing of the nuclear pact that provides for Russia to build four more atomic reactors in Tamil Nadu.
The pact, agreed upon during a visit by former Russian president Vladimir Putin in January 2007 and initialled early this year, will follow similar pacts signed with the US and France.
It will be the third bilateral nuclear pact India will ink after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers’ Group lifted a global atomic embargo against New Delhi on September 6.
“We are making all efforts to make the Russian president’s visit a successful and landmark visit. The India-Russia strategic partnership is an important factor for stability not only in the region but in the world,” Mukherjee said at a joint press conference with Lavrov.
“India has an impeccable record in non-proliferation. That’s why we supported India in
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in the NSG,” Lavrov said. “India is a very responsible player in the international arena.
India is very powerful in economic terms and has political clout,” Lavrov said.
g_seema@dnaindia.net
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