By Sarwar Kashani, IANS,
Sanya (China) : Alarmed by the nuclear disaster following a massive earthquake in Japan, strategic partners India and Russia Wednesday discussed the measures to enhance the safety of their own atomic reactors and the need for global efforts to re-examine the nuclear safety mechanism.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met here on the margins of the five-nation BRICS summit to review the bilateral strategic relationship, National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon told reporters here.
Menon said there was a discussion on nuclear safety “because we have a very active programme of cooperation between India and Russia on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy”.
He said Manmohan Singh and Medvedev “discussed the need for international efforts to re-examine nuclear safety, standards, and to see what can be done internationally quite apart from internal procedures which both of us have put into place as a result of what happened in (Japan’s nuclear plant) Fukushima”.
“We will go through this process together. We are examining this,” Menon said.
Menon noted that the two leaders were of the view that despite the safety concerns, “both are convinced that there is no real economic alternative and environmentally sound alternative to nuclear energy, if the safety and security can be assured”.
“We will go through this process together… We will work together on examining this.”
He said the two leaders expressed “satisfaction” at the development in their relationship in recent years, particularly the December 2010 visit of Medvedev to New Delhi.
“We have a long-term integrated cooperative programme in S&T (science and technology), and it went from S&T to the economy, to all the fields in the relationship. There was a discussion on cooperation in hydrocarbons.”
The two countries signed an inter-governmental agreement during Medvedev’s visit.
“Our interest was flagged and so was the Russian interest, in continuing and expanding that cooperation, much of which has been discussed in the past between our companies whether it is ONGC Videsh or the others.
“And so, they will continue that discussion. I think the important thing is that there is a very high-level interest and support for expanding and deepening that cooperation which started with Sakhalin-I where, as you know, we have a share,” Menon said.
He said they also discussed the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, and the effects that will have not only on the international system but also on energy security.
As part of his two-nation tour, Manmohan Singh will visit Kazakhstan Thursday to sign at least six agreements, including an inter-governmental agreement on civil nuclear cooperation.