July 01, 2010
The Hindu
Japan has held “constructive discussions” with India “on the contents of an agreement for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.”
A Japanese government spokesman on Wednesday said the first round of talks on this issue, held in Tokyo on Monday and Tuesday, was “constructive” on another count as well. The delegations led by Mitsuru Kitano on the Japanese side and Gautam Bambawale from India, discussed “the guiding principles of how to conduct negotiations in the future.”
The talks “will continue from now on” but it was “premature to say when these might conclude,” the spokesman said.
In a phone-in interview, the Japanese official, Kazuo Kodama, said the civil nuclear issue was among the topics that the prime ministers of the two countries discussed during their recent meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Toronto.
Mr. Kodama, who had accompanied Japanese leader Naoto Kan for the G20 summit and related meetings, quoted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as saying that he was “pleased” with the beginning of consultations for a possible civil nuclear pact between the two countries. In response, Mr. Kan emphasised that “there exists a large potential for Japan to cooperate in the area of India's peaceful use of nuclear energy,” said Mr. Kodama.
Unrelated to the Japanese view on these talks in Toronto and Tokyo, it is understood that Japan has not softened its position on the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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