No weapons in space: Manmohan, Putin

In the backdrop of China testing an anti-satellite missile system, India and Russia today opposed the weaponisation of outer space.

In the backdrop of China testing an anti-satellite missile system, India and Russia today opposed the weaponisation of outer space. However, both the sides also called for the expansion of cooperation within the China-Russia-India trilateral format.

8220;Our fundamental position is that our space should be absolutely weapons-free. China is not the first country to conduct such tests,8221; Russian President Vladimir Putin said addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.

He was replying to a question on the test launch of an anti-missile system by Beijing recently.

Voicing similar sentiments, Singh said India was not in favour of weaponisation of outer space.

Putin recalled that such tests were conducted in 1980s and there were indications that the US was planning to weaponise the space. This should not happen, he said.

On trilateral cooperation among India, Russia and China, the Russian leader said they believed work in this direction in future was promising.

Singh said foreign ministers of Russia, India and China would be meeting in the near future to explore avenues on trilateral cooperation.

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The first trilateral summit level meeting took place in July 2006.

During the discussions both the sides condemned terrorism in all 8220;its forms and manifestations8221; and reaffirmed bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism. The two countries also agreed to consolidate joint efforts in suppressing financing of international terrorism and fighting illicit trafficking.

Both the sides also raised

concern about the growing threat of Taliban in Afghanistan while asserting their commitments to the post-war reconstruction of that country.

While calling for a more 8220;active and transparent cooperation of Iran8221; with IAEA in order to resolve the outstanding verification issues, Russia and India expressed the view that an effective solution to the Iranian nuclear issue should be found through political and diplomatic dialogue.