By IANS
Chennai : Britain favours cooperation with India in civil nuclear energy and in other sectors, the country’s envoy said here Tuesday.
High Commissioner Richard Stagg also said that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first summit with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Sigh in New Delhi in January “will focus on climate change and greater collaborations in science and technology”.
“The UK can work together with India on civilian nuclear power production”, Stagg said, even as he described the landmark India-US civilian nuclear deal as a “well-balanced pact”.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a lecture on “Britain and India: Working together for a sustainable future” on his first official visit to Tamil Nadu after assuming office earlier this year.
“The UK strongly supports the 123 agreement”, Stagg said of the pact that will make the India-US nuclear deal operational.
Asked about the response of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) when New Delhi approaches it for a waiver to enable resumption of nuclear commerce with India after a three-decade hiatus, the envoy said: “The country must benefit, it must get global access to fuel supplies.”
“We want to work with India in a number of ways, including sharing our expertise in renewable energy and collaborating to develop technology to suit the Indian situation”, Stagg said.
Speaking about energy issues, the high commissioner pointed out that the British government had published a White Paper on this in May 2007 and had also brought a Climate Change Bill before parliament.
“The UK is committed to low carbon growth,” the envoy said, adding that the British industry’s expertise in renewable and clean energy technology will be shared with Indian scientists.
“The low carbon energy sector could be worth $3,000 billion by 2050 and employ more than 25 million people,” Stagg said.
“The UK is at the cutting edge in developing this market-based approach but we need the skills, energy and entrepreneurship of India to form a partnership for success,” he added.