Thaindian News

Tokyo/New Delhi, June 25 (IANS) In yet another milestone in its ongoing quest for global nuclear trade, India will launch negotiations Monday for a bilateral civil nuclear pact with Japan, the only nation to be attacked by atomic weapons.
The deal will pave the way for top Japanese multinationals like Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. to sell advanced nuclear technology to India.

Japan will start talks with India over civil nuclear energy cooperation, Japan’s Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said in Tokyo, signaling an end to months of ambivalence on part of Tokyo for trading in atomic technolgy with a country which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“There are projects that suppliers of other countries are involved in (in India) that require Japanese technologies. That is a point of consideration,” Okada told reporters.

Alluding to Japan’s decision to back exemption for India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group nearly 18 months ago that lifted a 34-year-old ban on global nuclear trade with New Delhi, Okada admitted that it was “a tough decision”, but stressed that Tokyo cannot go against the international trend.

The two sides will hold the first round of negotiations for a bilateral nuclear pact in Tokyo June 28-29, Japan’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

The Indian delegation, headed by Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary (East Asia) in ministry of external affairs, will hold talks with the Japanese team led by Mitsuru Kitano, deputy-director general, Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department, in the foreign office.

Sources in New Delhi welcomed Japan’s decision to begin civil nuclear talks, terming it “as a major step” in India’s search for cutting-edge nuclear technolgies, but declined to speculate on the outcome.

The discussions will centre on the contents of the agreement that will address Tokyo’s non-proliferation concerns and facilitate the transfer of Japanese civil nuclear technology to India.

Given the extreme sensitivity in Japan on nuclear issues, it may take several rounds to conclude a nuclear pact.

Japan, a pacifist country and the only nation ever attacked with atomic weapons, is a world leader in civilian nuclear technology and depends on atomic power for over 40 percent of its electricity requirements.

The decision to start nuclear talks mark a turning point as Tokyo, known for its hawkish stance on nuclear non-proliferation issues, had earlier linked a bilateral pact with India with signing and ratification of the the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

India has refused to sign the NPT and the CTBT as it believes that they are “discriminatory” and divide the world into the nuclear haves and have-nots.

Japan’s announcement of nuclear talks comes days before India and Canada sign a nuclear deal when the prime ministers of the two countries meet in Toronto Sunday.

India has signed bilateral nuclear pacts with over half a dozen countries, including the US, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina and Namibia. India and Britain have signed a joint declaration on peaceful uses of nuclear energy and finalised their bilateral pact. India has also begun consultations with South Korea over a bilateral nuclear pact.