PM points to nuke bill to address Russia concern

The Prime Minister, who touched upon the issue of supplying additional nuclear reactors for the Koodankulam Atomic Power Project where Russia is already involved, told Putin that this legislation should address the concerns of Russia as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

‘‘I think all these issues (Russian concerns) will no longer exist in a month’s time,’’ said Narayanan after the talks.

Coming as it does around the time when US has initiated an energy dialogue with India, the new legislation is expected to inspire confidence in Washington as well as Moscow on New Delhi’s willingness to abide by strict non-proliferation norms despite not being a member of the NPT. Putin told the PM that he will look into these issues soon after the festivities here are over.

Singh, the NSA said, also had an informal exchange with US President George W Bush while attending the ceremonies related to the 60th Victory Day celebrations here. The US President told the PM that he was eager to host him soon and hoped that the visit will lead to concrete results in the areas identified by both countries. The PM is expected to visit Washington in July.

On the economic front, India and Russia agreed to set up a joint study group to examine the feasibility of having a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement.

The suggestion was made by Singh and readily accepted by Russia which has for long made the point that economic ties between both sides were not at the same level as their strategic relationship.

Besides this, the two leaders had discussions on some of the positive strides made by both sides to take their defence relationship to a new level that will involve better product support, joint production and joint research and development.

Moscow has already indicated that it is willing to enter into joint production of the upgraded MiG-29 which is in contention for the 126 multi-role combat aircraft that the IAF proposes to buy.

According to Narayanan, the visit turned out be ‘‘highly productive’’ despite the ceremonial nature of the event. Putin, who met Singh within an hour of hosting a luncheon for over 50 dignitaries, told the PM that ‘‘while there were many guests in Russia, there was only one India.’’

The meeting between the two leaders exceeded beyond the stipulated time with the Russian President underlining the importance of increasing Indian investment in the energy sector. He told Singh that ‘‘Russia had always stood by India and will always stand by India.’’

Meanwhile, Singh also had informal exchanges with Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Jaques Chirac and Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi at various functions today. Later, he had a bilateral meeting with Romanian President Traian Basescu.