India-Japan parleys on civil nuclear pact to begin tomorrow

SINGAPORE : Japan will start "negotiations" with India in Tokyo on Monday "to conclude a civil nuclear cooperation agreement."

Announcing this in Tokyo on Friday, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said the first round would last two days.

The issue is expected to figure in the talks between the new Japanese leader, Naoto Kan, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Canada .

As reported in The Hindu, Japan first began "consultations" with India on civil nuclear cooperation. Those were a prelude to the formal negotiations for an agreement as now announced by Japan.

Mr. Okada said Japan\'s latest decision was based on a "cautious consideration" of the issues at stake. "Japan has closely watched India\'s actions" since it was given "an exceptional status" by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in September 2008.

"After confirming that India has been steadily carrying out its commitments and actions" as stipulated in the terms of New Delhi\'s exemption from the NSG guidelines, Tokyo took this new initiative now, said Mr. Okada.

Earlier, Japan participated in the relevant "consensus" in the NSG by judging that such an action would be conducive to nudging India to "embrace the international non-proliferation system." This aspect and the August 2008 safeguards agreement between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency would now serve as the framework for the imminent Japan-India parleys on civil nuclear cooperation, Mr. Okada pointed out.

He also cited India\'s importance for Japan, the need to combat global warming, and Tokyo\'s own energy and industrial policies as the other factors driving this new move.
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