Tokyo/New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) India and Japan, the only country to have been attacked by atomic weapons, began inaugural talks Monday on a nuclear deal that will enable sale of advanced atomic technology by Japanese majors like Mitsubishi and Hitachi to New Delhi.
The first round of nuclear talks between India and Japan took place a day after India signed its ninth civil nuclear cooperation pact with Canada in Toronto.
The Indian delegation, comprising Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary (East Asia) in ministry of external affairs and officials of the department of atomic energy, held talks with the Japanese team led by Mitsuru Kitano, deputy director general, Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department, in the foreign office in Tokyo.
The two-day talks, the first formal negotiations between the two countries since the 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group granted a one-time waiver to India to resume global nuclear trade, will end Tuesday.
The talks are exploratory in nature and are aimed at evolving a framework for bilateral civil nuclear cooperation pact that will address Tokyo’s non-proliferation concerns and facilitate the transfer of Japanese civil nuclear technology to India, sources said in New Delhi.
Given the extreme sensitivity in Japan on nuclear issues due to its history as a nation that saw two of its cities destroyed by atomic bombs in 1945, it may take several rounds to conclude a nuclear pact.
However, sources indicated that if India accepted additional inspections of nuclear material that could be provided by Japan, it could be concluded by the end of the year. The deal will enable top Japanese multinationals like Toshiba Corp and Hitachi Ltd to sell advanced nuclear reactors and technology to India.
Japan’s 10-year growth strategy announced June 18 prioritises promoting the export of nuclear power generation facilities,
The talks, which were announced by Japan’s Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, marks an end to months of ambivalence on part of Tokyo for trading in atomic technology with a country which has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The decision to start nuclear talks marks a turning point as Tokyo, known for its hawkish stance on nuclear non-proliferation issues, had earlier linked a bilateral pact with India with signing and ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
India has refused to sign the NPT and the CTBT as it believes that these treaties are ‘discriminatory’ and divide the world into the nuclear haves and have-nots.
India has signed bilateral nuclear pacts with more than half a dozen countries, including the US, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina and Namibia and now Canada. India and Britain have signed a joint declaration on peaceful uses of nuclear energy and finalised their bilateral pact. India has also begun consultations with South Korea over a bilateral nuclear pact.
