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Putin promises India more nuclear power, but business ties lag
AFP/Alexander Nemenov
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) talks to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their press conference in New Delhi.By Stephen Boykewich
AFP
NEW DELHI
Petroleumworld.com 01 26 06Russian President Vladimir Putin promised energy-hungry India nuclear reactors and power plants after arriving Thursday on a mission to rejuvenate ties with Moscow's former Cold War ally.
But at a meeting with Indian business leaders, Putin heard expressions of disappointment over the slow growth of bilateral trade and frustration at difficulties in cracking the Russian market.
India, which is racing to secure new sources of fuel to sustain its booming economy, welcomed Russian moves to help "in the expansion of our nuclear sector," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said after a signing ceremony.
"We appreciate Russian support," Singh said after the two countries inked a memorandum of understanding in which Russia promised four more nuclear reactors for a flagship nuclear plant it is building in Kudankulam in southern Tamil Nadu -- a state that already has two 1,000-megawatt Russian reactors.
The symbolic highlight of Putin's two-day visit will be Friday, when he is guest of honour at India's Republic Day celebrations -- designed to show a close friendship even as New Delhi grows closer to the United States and other Western governments.
Putin, on his fourth visit to India since becoming president, also promised to co-operate in building atomic energy stations "at new locations in the Indian republic."
The passage last year of a landmark US-Indian deal allowing New Delhi access to civilian nuclear technology after decades of isolation has unleashed an international race to supply the Indian civilian nuclear energy market.
Western nations have also been jostling for a slice of India's lucrative civilian nuclear energy market, although any contracts with india still must await approval by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which regulates the global nuclear energy trade.
Outside of nuclear and military cooperation -- which brought a 250-million-dollar contract Wednesday for the joint production of fighter jet engines -- India's business elite painted a less than rosy picture of relations with Russia.
"We have to seek an answer to the question why, despite strong political ties between two time-tested friends, bilateral trade and business ties remain low," Habil Khorakiwala, president of Indian business association FICCI, said.
Addressing Putin during a meeting with other Indian and Russian businessmen, Khorakiwala said it was "time to put words into practice and transform the willingness into actual cooperation."
Minutes after Putin said bilateral trade ties had jumped an estimated 20 percent in 2006 to reach 3.8 billion dollars, Khorakiwala put the number at just 2.75 billion.
Indian businessmen have long complained of difficulties in receiving Russian visas, which Russia has tied to alleged problems with illegal Indian immigration, an Indian government official told AFP.
Still, Thursday brought agreement between India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Russian state oil giant Rosneft to jointly bid for exploration and refining projects in India, Russia and other countries.
ONGC and Rosneft will build on their existing partnership in Russia's vast Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field, the two companies said in a joint statement.
The two sides also signed a 250-million-dollar deal for a Russian-built hydroelectric power station in northern Uttar Pradesh, as well as a joint venture to produce titanium products in eastern Orissa.
Moscow and New Delhi were allies throughout the Cold War, agreeing to billions of dollars' worth of arms deals, but the ground has shifted as India has turned to the US and other Western countries for arms and investment.
Putin has said he hoped the countries would triple bilateral trade to 10 billion dollars per year by 2010.
AFP 25 1719 GMT 01 07
Copyright© 1999 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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