By Manish Chand, IANS
Pretoria : India, Brazil and South Africa joined hands to promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy, UN reforms and a free trade area among them as they ended their second summit with an ambitious agenda of trans-national cooperation revolving around energy security and people-centric social development.
The three IBSA countries, straddling Asia, Africa and Latin America, cemented their trilateral cooperation by signing seven inter-governmental pacts in the areas of public administration and governance, tax administration, arts and culture cooperation, higher education, wind resources, health and medicines and social development.
A memorandum of agreement among IPICO of South Africa, Strategic Consultants of India and Enternet Informatica Limited of Brazil was also signed.
India’s quest for global civil nuclear integration also got a boost when Brazil and South Africa offered their support in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy with India.
A joint declaration issued at the end of the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) summit here said the three countries would explore approaches to cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear technology under the appropriate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
They agreed that international civil nuclear cooperation, under appropriate IAEA safeguards, among countries committed to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation objectives could be enhanced through acceptable forward looking approaches, consistent with their national and international objectives, the declaration said.
“Discussions are on. It is a work in progress. We are for peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” said South African President Thabo Mbeki.
The second annual summit resulted in an all-embracing Tshwane IBSA Summit Declaration that included expanding trade to $15 billion by 2010 and laid out a time-bound blueprint for enhancing connectivity, setting up a free trade area and promoting inclusive growth with a comprehensive people-centric social development agenda at the very heart of this tri-nation forum.
They decided to hold the next summit in India.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President Lula da Silva and South African President Thabo Mbeki all agreed that IBSA has to move beyond just tall talk to concrete results that can have a transforming effect on the lives of millions, specially the poor, in their countries.
Manmohan Singh expressed the confidence that the IBSA process was “finally taking off” and held it as “an example for all developing countries” which mark “a significant step forward in the emergence of a global partnership for development”.
He also stressed on “a renewed convergence of interests on major international issues” among the three countries that includes expansion of the UN Security Council, the Doha round of development talks, climate change and terrorism.
Manmohan Singh also stressed on an early and successful conclusion of “balanced and equitable” Doha round of development negotiations.
The UN reforms figured prominently in the discussions with the three calling for reforming the UN Security Council to reflect contemporary global realities.
“It is our desire that the G-4 and the African Union should join hands for reform of the UN Security Council.
“It is our hope and expectation that our friends and brothers in the African Union will be able to devise ways to coordinate their strategy and develop a consensus,” Manmohan Singh told reporters at a joint press interaction with Lula and Mbeki.
Earlier in the day, while speaking to business leaders Manmohan Singh called for expanding trade ties among the IBSA countries to $18 billion by 2012 and putting a common social development strategy to benefit millions in these three countries.
Underlining the need to create the necessary environment for closer intra-IBSA trade and investment, the prime minister asked business leaders to look at innovative approaches to exploit common strengths in science and technology in areas including joint research and development projects in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and ICT.
Manmohan Singh also laid emphasis on pooling together respective strengths of the three countries in specific areas of energy technologies to achieve energy security for their rapidly expanding economies.
“Brazil has comparative strengths in ethanol and bio-fuels; South Africa in coal-to-liquid and gas-to-liquid technologies. India has strengths in wind and solar energy.
“We need to look at how trilateral ventures in these areas can be made viable business models,” he said.
The social development strategy, the prime minister said, should include eight elements – rapid economic growth, inclusive growth, human resource development, building equitable infrastructure and grassroots institutions, promoting environment-friendly strategies, preventing short-term distress mitigation and integration into world economy.
Earlier, in his opening remarks at the plenary session of the second IBSA summit, Manmohan Singh unveiled a unifying vision of trans-national economic and social partnership with South Africa and Brazil in the IBSA framework, revolving around a free trade area, promoting inclusive growth, connectivity and energy security. He pushed for a “time-bound action” to achieve these goals.
“If the IBSA movement is to catch the imagination of our people, we should move from a declaratory phase to one of time-bound action,” Singh said.
The three leaders also called for accelerating negotiations for the India-SACU (Southern African Customs Union)-Mercosur FTA.
The FTA will connect economically vibrant regions of India, SACU and Mercosur in three continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Mercosur, also known as the Common Market of the South, encompasses more than 250 million people and accounts for more than three-quarters of the economic activity on the continent. The SACU consists of five member states, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, and forms the most economically active area of Africa.