Japan moves to mend nuke fences

July 6, 2010

The Telegraph

Japan has removed from a list of banned entities several Indian companies and government institutions to pave the way for high-technology transfers, particularly in the defence sector.

The move assumes significance as the two countries are close to an agreement on peaceful uses of nuclear energy, following which Japanese companies can participate in India’s civil nuclear energy sector.

Some of the 11 companies removed from the list, called the end-users’ list, include the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Indian Space Research Organisation, PSU Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd and private firm Godrej & Boyce.

Although the DRDO’s Aeronautical Research Development Establishment and three companies were added to the list recently, the external affairs ministry sees the overall reduction of Indian entities on the roster as a positive step.

The two countries’ top defence and foreign ministry bureaucrats met today for their first 2+2 dialogue — so called because it involves two ministeries from either side. Japan is the first country with which India has such annual consultations. The talks mechanism was instituted by the two Prime Ministers in December 2009 to advance defence cooperation. Japan only holds such 2+2 dialogues with close allies like the US and Australia.

During the consultations, India welcomed the decision to remove Indian companies from the end-users’ list. Apart from enabling transfer of high technology, the move will allow Japanese companies to bid for defence contracts in India, said sources in the external affairs ministry.

In foreign office-level consultations, also held today, the two sides said they were satisfied with the progress towards signing of the civil nuclear energy deal. The Japanese, the only people to have suffered a nuclear attack, in the Second World War II, had earlier been wary of such co-operation because of India’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Under pressure from its private sector, Tokyo recently amended regulations to allow Japanese companies — Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — to partner the US and French companies seeking to build nuclear power plants in India.

The relaxation will also help operationalise the Indo-US nuclear deal faster. Two of the biggest US companies that plan to build nuclear power plants in India — General Electric and Westinghouse Electric Co — are partly or wholly owned by Japanese companies.

New Delhi is also said to be close to a similar civil nuclear deal with South Korea. Another area where both the Japanese and the South Koreans want to strengthen co-operation with India is in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

The Japanese and South Koreans’ efforts at closer defence co-operation with India are also seen as part of their attempts to contain Chinese influence.

By ARCHIS MOHAN 
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100707/jsp/nation/story_12655015.jsp

Japan, India hold talkson nuclear pact

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.

By P.S Suryanarayana
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article493965.ece

India, Japan Mull Civilian Nuclear Trade

May 28, 2010

Global Security Newswire

India and Japan have agreed to establish a panel to weigh the potential for pursuing a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, the The Hindu reported yesterday (see GSN, May 25).
"We discussed responsible nuclear energy policies. You could says this is the first step towards cooperation," one source said.
To advance such an arrangement, though, Tokyo would expect New Delhi to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and follow through on pledges it made in a September 2008 letter to Nuclear Suppliers Group member nations, according to The Hindu. Japan and other members of the nuclear export control regime agreed that month to permit India to purchase civilian nuclear fuel and technology from abroad, even though the South Asian country possessed nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (see GSN, Sept. 8, 2008).
The nations must overcome multiple "hurdles" to reach an agreement on nuclear trade, the newspaper reported.
“We have not really decided whether to start negotiations,” one source told the newspaper (Sandeep Dikshit, The Hindu, May 27).

Source: http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100528_3838.php