India’s PM visit to Russia: Kudankulam NPP may be launched by late 2011
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has visited Russia and met with President Medvedev. The leaders had an extensive agenda, including the production of Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter jets, student exchange programs and pharmaceutical manufacturing standards.
The visit was a follow-on to BRICS field sessions on Hainan and the G20 Cannes summit. Dmitry Medvedev said that the agreements reached by the parties show a high level of mutual trust backed by economic partnership.
«The bilateral trade turnover has reached 7 bln dollars since early 2011 and it will reach its peak this year. We plan to boost this turnover, along with investments as these processes are interrelated. Russia and India are now enjoying the best military and technical cooperation ever and Moscow is interested in India joining projects on designing a multipurpose cargo aircraft, a fifth generation jet fighter and civil aircraft».
Special attention was paid to the Kudankulam nuclear power plant project. Reactors for the plant are produced by the Izhora facility based near St.Petersburg. According to Mr. Singh, Deli plans to implement a roadmap for the project which has been agreed on with Russia. Now Kudankulam 1 and 2 are almost ready but their launch is being hampered by nuclear safety concerns. However, India’s Prime Minister believes that these would be removed soon and the first reactor would be launched in a couple of weeks while the second would follow in six months' time.
On its part, Russia is backing India’s accession to the Shanghai Organisation for Cooperation and, according to Dmitry Medvedev, sees Delhi as a good candidate for becoming a standing member of the UN Security Council.
«India is a special privileged strategic partner for us. We consider it to be a very real and powerful candidate for a standing member of the UN Security Council, although other Security Council members in their entirety have to come to a consensus and carry out a reform of the Security Council along the lines of an agreed scenario. And of course, you can have no doubts about the support on the part of the Russian Federation», Dmitry Medvedev added.
Both countries are also acting members of BRICS. The role of this umbrella organisation made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa can at present be described as a mechanism for consultations. At present, these activities have a particular significance given that the world is undergoing rapid changes with its economy currently being in a precarious situation. Dmitry Medvedev also recalled that BRICS countries embrace half of the global population and are responsible for about half of the global GDP. This organisation is turning into an increasingly influential player which makes it possible to agree upon the positions of its members and to protect our interests jointly at other international organisations, the Russian president stressed.
16/12/2011, The Moscow Times
