India, Russia ink n-cooperation pact

India and Russia on Friday signed the much-awaited agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation...

India and Russia on Friday signed the much-awaited agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailing it as a 8220;new milestone8221;. The two countries also signed a contract to buy 80 Mi-17 V-5 helicopters, with the ISRO and its Russian counterpart agreeing to 8220;initiate joint activities in our human spaceflight programme8221;, the Prime Minister said. A total of 10 agreements were signed after talks between the two sides.

The Russian President who is on a three-day visit to the country termed his visit a 8220;new page8221; in bilateral relations between the two countries.

Under the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, Russia will build four additional atomic reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, to expand and pursue further areas of bilateral cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Both the countries agreed that military-technical cooperation is a key area in bilateral relations between India and Russia, noting that Russia continues to be a leading source of defence products to India.

Both sides also expressed satisfaction about the effective role played by the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on military technical cooperation and directed that it be reviewed constantly. India and Russia agreed to further the progress made in areas of joint research, development, production and marketing, regular service-to-service interaction and joint military exercises.

They agreed that the long-term programme on military and technical cooperation should be renewed for another ten years after its completion in 2010. The tenth anniversary of the Indo-Russian venture to produce state-of-the-art BrahMos hypersonic cruise missiles and the project to develop and produce multi-role transport aircraft and the fifth-generation fighter aircraft was noted with satisfaction. It was also agreed to further expedite these projects.

Manmohan Singh, after signing the joint declaration, said both countries had taken 8220;yet another step forward8221; through joint action in human space flight programme.

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Both countries also discussed peaceful uses of outer space and agreed to direct their respective agencies to intensify ongoing cooperation, besides identifying new areas for collaboration.

Greater cooperation between Indian and Russian companies, both in upstream and down stream sectors were also discussed.