New Delhi, April 11: India and Kazakhstan will sign
Civil Nuclear Agreement during Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh’s visit to Astana on April 15-16.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL)
and Kazakhstan’s National Atomic Company ‘Kazatomprom’
had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for
cooperation in civil nuclear energy during the visit
of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev to India
in 2009.
“Discussion on an inter-governmental agreement
are in an advanced stage and is likely to be signed
during the visit,” a senior official of the Kazakhstan
embassy here said today.
Kazakhstan is the biggest producer of Uranium in the
world.
The two countries are also likely to sign an agreement
for cooperation in oil exploration in the Satpayev Block
in the Caspian Sea basin, sources said.
The ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Kazakhstan’s oil
company KazMunaiGaz (KMG) had also signed an MOU for
cooperation in oil and Gas sector in February 2005.
OVL is negotiating with KMG for 25 per cent stake in
the Satpayev Oil Block, officials said.
Dr Singh who will arrive in Astana from Sanya, the
Chinese beach resort, on April 15 after attending
the third Summit of BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa), on the second leg of his
two-nation five-day tour, will have bilateral talks with
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime
Minister Massimov in Astana on India-Kazakhstan ties.
After discussions between Prime Minister Singh and
President Nazarbayev, both countries will have
delegation-level talks.
This will be Dr Singh’s first visit to
Kazakhstan and the second to a Central Asian country.
Mr Sanjay Singh, Secretary (East) in the External
Affairs Ministry, told reporters here today that the
Prime Minister’s visit to Kazakhstan would place
“strategic relations between the two countries on a
firm footing”.
“Some agreements are likely to be signed (during
the visit),” he said, without elaborating.
Mr Sanjay Singh said the two countries “have
convergence” on many key issues including
counter-terrorism, energy security and economic
development in the region.
Both countries lay emphasis on strengthening
people-to-people contact and cooperation and energy.
-Agencies