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India, US plan to move ahead on FMCT

Source:PTI
July 20, 2009 23:52 IST
India and the United States on Monday agreed to move ahead towards a non-discriminatory, internationally and effectively verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty and pledged to cooperate to prevent nuclear terrorism.

This was decided during the hour-long talks between External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New Delhi.

The two leaders "agreed to move ahead in the Conference on Disarmament towards a non-discriminatory, internationally and effectively verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty," a joint statement issued after the talks said.

Both the countries also decided to cooperate to prevent nuclear terrorism and address challenges of global nuclear proliferation, it said.

The two leaders also inked the Technology Safeguards Agreement which would enable launching of civil or non-commercial satellites containing US components on Indian space launch vehicles.

Since the components and satellites will have to be integrated with Indian Space Research Organisation's launch vehicles, the TSA will provide for monitoring by the US side to ensure against diversion or misuse of equipment.

India and the US also affirmed their commitment to work together with other countries, including through the Major Economies Forum, for positive results in the UNFCCC Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December.

The joint statement said India and the US will also begin consultations on reprocessing arrangements and procedures as part of the civil nuclear agreement signed last year.

On the "India-US Strategic Dialogue" that meets once every year alternately in each other's capital, it said Krishna and Clinton with chair the meetings.

"This dialogue will focus on a wide range of bilateral, global, and regional issues of shared interest and common concern, continuing programmes currently under implementation and taking mutually beneficial initiatives that complement Indian and US development, security and economic interests," the statement said.

Krishna is expected to travel to Washington next year for the first round of the strategic dialogue. The two leaders took note of the enhanced co-operation in defence under the Defence Co-operation Framework Agreement of 2005 and underlined the commitment of both governments to pursue mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of defence.

Krishna announced that both sides had reached agreement on end use monitoring for US defence equipment procured by India.

The two countries were keen to "exchanging views on new configurations of the UN Security Council, the G-8, and the G-20" with Clinton stressing that multilateral organisations and groupings should reflect the world of the 21st century.

Krishna and Clinton reaffirmed commitment of both the governments to facilitate a pathway forward on the WTO Doha Round.

"They pledged to co-operate to not only preserve the economic synergies between the two countries that have grown over the years, but also to increase and diversify bilateral economic relations and expand trade and investment flows," the statement said.

The two sides noted that negotiations for a Bilateral Investment Treaty would be scheduled here next month. In the field of education, Krishna and Clinton agreed on the need to expand the role of the private sector in strengthening this collaboration even as they underscored the importance of expanding educational cooperation through exchanges and institutional collaboration.

The two sides agreed to continue the bilateral High Technology Cooperation Dialogue with the objective of facilitating smoother trade in high technology between them.

"It was also agreed that working groups would be formed to focus on new areas of common interest in nano-technology, civil nuclear technology, civil aviation and licensing issues in defence, strategic and civil nuclear trade," it said.

Both leaders pledged to intensify collaboration on energy security and climate change. "Efforts will focus on increasing energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean energy technologies through the India-US Energy Dialogue and a Global Climate Change Dialogue," the statement said.

Source: PTI
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