WORLD
India, Kazakhstan ink civil nuclear cooperation agreement
Baku, April 18 (AZERTAC). The governments of India and Kazakhstan have signed an agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in 2009.
The agreement was signed in the Kazakh capital Astana during an official visit to Kazakhstan by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In a joint statement on behalf of the two countries, the governments "noted the need for expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation in this area while adhering to their existing obligations under multilateral nuclear regimes." The nuclear cooperation agreement was one of many signed during the visit, covering areas as diverse as food security, energy sector cooperation and space research.
The nuclear agreement comes after a 2009 memorandum of understanding signed during a visit by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to India, which provided for Kazakhstan to supply uranium to India and also expressed Kazakh interest in possible nuclear power projects based on Indian pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) designs. Although the joint statement issued by the two countries did not give details on the terms of the cooperation agreement, Singh was later questioned as to whether India was planning to sell nuclear reactors to Kazakhstan. "There has been a discussion on that but no concrete decision has been taken," he told reporters at a press conference.