Major plans to increase share of nuke power: PM

MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Agencies): Noting that Russian nuclear technology is internationally competitive, India today said it would like to expand its cooperation in the field as it has major plans to increase the share of nuclear power in its energy mix.

Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India tomorrow, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the Russian media that India-Russia strategic partnership is unique and has no other parallel of two giant nations maintaining steady and unbroken friendship over decades.

The prime minister also talked about increasing the trade volume and transforming the nature of economic ties and expressed concern over religious extremism and terrorism in its neighbourhood.

On the nuclear issue, the Prime Minister expressed India's interest in expanding nuclear cooperation with Russia, which is presently building two nuclear power plans in Kudankulam.

"Russian nuclear power technology is internationally competitive.

Since we have major plans to increase the share of nuclear power in our energy mix, there are concrete opportunities for cooperation in this area.

We would also like this cooperation to expand in years to come," he said.

The Russian President is arriving here tomorrow for the seventh Indo-Russian summit during which nuclear cooperation between the two countries will be high on the agenda.

A number of bilateral agreements are expected to be signed during the visit.

Putin in an interview to PTI had said that Russia intends to help India directly in the construction of atomic energy facilities for peaceful use.

Touching upon bilateral issues, the Prime Minister said while relations between other major powers have witnessed numerous upheavals, "relations between India and Russia have weathered radical changes in the international system as well as political and socio-economic changes within the two countries".

Singh attributed this largely to compatibility of India and Russia's geo-political as well as national interests.

"This deep and durable understanding between India and Russia is manifest today in our shared thinking that international peace and stability can be better maintained in a multi-polar world".

The Declaration of Strategic Partnership between India and the Russian Federation, signed during President Putin's visit to India in October 2000, takes a long-term view of our multi-faceted relationship, unaffected by tactical, or short-term, considerations, the Prime Minister noted.

Singh said India-Russia strategic partnership is a factor for promoting peace, security and stability not only within the region but also globally.

Nuclear, defense purchases and overall trade on Putin's agenda in India MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Agencies): Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to arrive in India, hoping to use the two nations' decades-long friendship to push for deals in civilian nuclear cooperation, military hardware and trade expansion between the booming economies.

Putin, who will be the guest of honor at India's Jan.

26 Republic Day celebrations during his two-day visit starting Thursday, is looking to cash in on Cold War ties that bound the two countries for years _ but then slackened as India's burgeoning market attracted other players.

India was a key customer for Soviet weapons, purchasing billions of dollars' (euros') worth of military hardware.

Russia hopes that relationship will continue, especially since India has become the world's foremost buyer of military equipment.

A key element of their relationship was rooted in an unwritten code: that India would buy enormous amounts of Russian military hardware, and Moscow would not supply defense equipment to India's neighboring archrival, Pakistan.

Russian politicians warned there will likely be consequences if India shops elsewhere.

"I believe this situation could stay, but only on condition that India, in its turn, will continue to view Russia as the main source of weapons," Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, told The Associated Press.

He said Pakistan "has shown a huge interest in the development of military-technical cooperation with Russia." "If we see other trends here, see that India is refocusing to other suppliers, European or American ...

Russia in turn will see new opportunities open for cooperation with other nations in the region," Kosachev said, in a clear reference to Pakistan.

The tacit agreement could be tested by India's planned purchase of 126 fighter jets, a deal worth US$6.5 billion to US$10 billion (?5.4 billion to ?8.3 billion), from countries where Russia faces stiff competition, including Sweden and the United States.

Russia's state-owned aircraft company, MiG, "is going to participate in that (India's international bidding process ) in the most active way," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Military news agency.

"We would like to push the MiG-35," said Russia's ambassador to India, Vyacheslav I.

Trubnikov, referring to the latest fighter jet in Russia's stable.

"This would be a real milestone in our military relations." For years during the Cold War, the diplomatic map was clear: India and the Soviet Union were close allies, while the United States tilted toward Pakistan.

But times have changed.

Washington and New Delhi now share a warm relationship, underscored by a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation deal the two made last year.

The deal gives India, with its energy-desperate economy, access to nuclear technology and equipment it was long denied because it is not a signatory of the international nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The deal appears to give U.S.

companies a strong position in India, but Trubnikov described nuclear cooperation as "the most important issue on the agenda during President Putin's visit." The two countries' nuclear ties are well-entrenched: Russia is helping India build two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors in the southern town of Kudankulam _ help that Washington had frowned on.

And last year, when uranium supplies ran precariously low at India's Tarapore nuclear power plant, Russia supplied 60 tons, again brushing aside U.S.

"We hope a clear road map for cooperation in peaceful civilian nuclear energy will emerge from the president's visit," Trubnikov told The Associated Press.

Despite longtime Russia-India ties, nonmilitary trade has stagnated.

During Putin's last visit to India in December 2004, both sides set an ambitious two-way trade target of US$10 billion (?8.3 billion) by 2010.

However, the figures have not edged up from the US$2.76 billion (?2.3 billion) level of two decades ago.

"The volume of Russian-Indian trade looks miserable compared, for example, to India's trade with China," said longtime India-watcher Tatiana Shaumian at the Moscow-based Institute for Oriental Studies.

Moscow wants Indian industry to invest more in Russia's economy, now growing at more than 6 percent a year, Trubnikov said.

Indians have long complained of difficulties in getting Russian visas, and Trubnikov assured a meeting of Indian business leaders last week that the application process is being eased.

"India and Russia share a great sense of comfort," India's ambassador to Moscow, Kanwal Sibal, said Monday in New Delhi.

"Whether it's defense or trade, nuclear or energy supplies, they share a strategic partnership.

Like old friends whose ties will endure." Hurriyat wants Pakistan opposition onboard for Kashmir resolution ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (Agencies): The moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), which is currently on a visit to Pakistan, has asked the ruling clique to take the opposition into confidence for resolving the Kashmir dispute that has dogged relations between the two countries for over five decades.

Talking to reporters after a meeting between the APHC delegation and leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) at Parliament House, APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said, "We believe that it is responsibility of the government of Pakistan to take all opposition parties in confidence on the Kashmir issue.

We want all political parties to unite on the issue." The APHC delegation, according to the Daily Times, also held meetings with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly.

Opposition leaders say they are in favour of a peaceful settlement of Kashmir according to the aspirations of the Kashmiris.

They, however, have refrained from commenting on President Pervez Musharraf's four-point proposals on Kashmir, as these have not been presented in parliament, nor has the government taken the opposition into confidence on the issue.

Mirwaiz praised the opposition parties for supporting the Kashmir cause.

He said that the meetings between the APHC delegation and opposition parties had been "very helpful".

He hoped that the Kashmir issue would not be politicised in Pakistan as it had been in India.

Mian Raza Rabbani, leader of the PPPP delegation, PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq and Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that they supported a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute, which should be acceptable to India and Pakistan.

On non-participation of Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Geelani in the peace talks, Rehman said that all leaders should support the APHC regardless of their internal politics.

He warned that Musharraf's four-point proposals could lose sheen if made public prematurely.

Meanwhile, the acting President and Senate Chairman Muhammadmian Soomro has said that the government would take the opposition parties into confidence on the Kashmir dialogue process at an appropriate time.

National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain said he was ready to allow a debate on Kashmir in the house if any member moved a motion.

Talking to reporters after their separate meetings with the Hurriyat leaders, Soomro and Hussain reiterated the government's stance to continue supporting the Kashmiris politically and morally.

"President Pervez Musharraf's four-point agenda will provide basis for the resolution of the Kashmir problem because it enjoys the support of the Kashmiri leadership and other circles," Soomro said in a reference to the Indian and Pakistani Governments and political parties.

He said that it was just the initial stage and opposition parties would be involved in the process at an appropriate time because the government wanted a peaceful solution of the issue in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiris.

Hussain said that Kashmir should be discussed in the National Assembly, adding that the opposition had their own point of view, but they should not make it an issue of prestige and should support the government.