India is likely to discuss with New Zealand a recent decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)—which controls global nuclear commerce— that can affect India’s ability to source crucial technology for its ambitious civil nuclear power generation programme from the global market, two government officials said on Monday.
Given its topicality, the issue could come up in the talks between visiting New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Manmohan Singh when they meet for talks on Tuesday, said one of the two officials. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
New Zealand is one of the 46 NSG members, who on Friday passed new rules for the sale of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies. The second government official said India was studying the NSG’s new criteria.
Indian officials led by foreign secretary Nirupama Rao had met representatives from New Zealand and two other NSG members in May to lobby support for India’s case.
The new NSG criteria includes one that says ENR technology transfers will be allowed only if the recipient nation signs the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This has the potential to directly hit the special exception granted to India in 2008 by the NSG.
That special waiver had allowed India to buy power plants, equipment and technology from the international market without signing the NPT and open all its reactors to international scrutiny.
The exemption was also part of a process that saw the removal of three-decade-old embargoes against nuclear commerce between India and the world—despite the country having conducted nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998.
The NSG waiver was pushed through by the US, with which India worked out a significant bilateral pact in 2008 that opened the doors for the sale of US atomic plants to India. The energy-deficient South Asian nation has plans to ramp up production of nuclear power from 5,000MW currently to 20,000MW by 2020.
Other issues expected to figure during Key’s visit include a free trade agreement that would reduce high tariffs on a range of exports from New Zealand. Key said he expected the pact to be “signed by March 2012”, according to PTI. Bilateral trade now stands at just $1.0 billion, a figure that Key wants to double by 2014.
Commerce minister Anand Sharma, who visited Auckland in May, had said that the two countries can cooperate in several segments, including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, dairy products, research and development, tourism and films.
“Dairy and agriculture are two of focus areas for New Zealand,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said. New Zealand sees a huge and growing demand for milk and milk products in India given that India has 20% of the world’s population of children.
Indian investments in New Zealand were in the areas of forestry, mining and information technology, Prakash said. Some Indian firms with a presence in New Zealand include Mahindra and Mahindra, Satyam and Wipro, he said, adding Indian banks and insurers too had offices there.
New Zealand is also fast developing into a destination for Indian students, with almost 10,000 going there for various courses, Prakash said. This was up from 163 Indian students in that nation a decade ago.
Source:-
http://www.livemint.com/2011/06/28021659/Nuclear-supply-may-top-NZ-meet.html?atype=tp
Thanks
Ankit Wani
Intern @ DENIP Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
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