Round The World
New
Delhi, 16 December 2008
Mendvedev’s Visit
UNNOTICED BUT SIGNIFICANT
By Monish Tourangbam, Research Scholar
School of International Studies, JNU
Arriving in the aftermath of the
Mumbai mayhem and the unfolding events thereafter, the maiden visit of Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev to India
received scant media attention. Nevertheless, it was a significant event, where
efforts were made to expand ties with a resurgent Russia. In the face of the recurring
attacks on national security, the energy crunch and the official financial
meltdown, it becomes imperative for New
Delhi to look to avenues for co-operation. Hence,
Medvedev's visit provided an opportunity to re-assess the potential of Indo-Russian
relations.
The Russian President was the first
world leader to travel to India
after the Mumbai attacks. This gave both the Indian and the Russian
establishments to take into account the current status of regional security,
especially the recurring insecurity in Afghanistan. In a way that may have
raised some eyebrows in Washington, wherein the joint agreement signed between
India and Russia calls for a coherent and a united international commitment,
both to Afghanistan's development and security aspects, to deal with threats from
a determined and coordinated resurgence of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other
extremist groups.
This apart the joint agreement dealt
with the growth in cross-border terrorism, its links with international
terrorism and international drug trafficking. Both sides welcome Russia's initiative to organize an international
conference on Afghanistan in
the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), involving its Member States
and Observers.
The text of the agreement, though, not
literally critical of any country, was meant to send clear signals of India’s independent foreign policy and the clout
that emerging countries like ours and resurgent Russia demand in world politics. In
fact, it closely resembled a treatise on the inevitable rise of a multi-polar
world, emphasizing the salience of the United Nations and that of growing
interaction in the BRIC (Brazil,
Russia, India, and China) format.
Hence, the text tries and covers
some of the pressing global issues that, as a matter of fact, also involve the US. If New Delhi and Moscow
believe that all efforts should be made to address the Iranian nuclear issue by
peaceful means, dialogue and negotiation, both sides also reaffirm their
commitment to securing a comprehensive, lasting and just settlement of the
Arab-Israeli conflict through a recognized international legal base.
If New Delhi
fully appreciates the desire of the Russian
Federation to join the Asia-Europe meeting and East Asia
summit mechanisms, Moscow expresses its support
for a more active role for India
as an Observer State in the SCO. It reaffirms its
support to India
as a deserving and strong candidate for the permanent membership in an expanded
UN Security Council. In an interesting development, New
Delhi has too supported the important role of the Russian Federation
in promoting peace & cooperation in the Caucasian region.
Irrespective of these strategic
calculations, the crux of the visit was cementing the evolving cooperation in
the civilian nuclear sector, gaining importance post the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) waiver. Both sides signed agreements that would go a long way in
allaying New Delhi’s
worries of the country’s limited sources of uranium. At present, mines at
Singhbhum, Jharkhand are the only source of nuclear power plants, with other
areas of exploration entangled in environmental issues and the unavailability
of sophisticated equipments. Recently, chief of Nuclear Power Corporation of India, S.K. Jain was quoted as saying that
unless India
was lucky to explore new reserves, shortage of fuel may jeopardize the
country's nuclear energy growth plants.
At a summit meeting between Medvedev
and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a mega-agreement to supply nearly 2,000
tonnes of uranium was finalized. This would help increase the efficiency of the
existing plants to 90 per cent from an unhealthy 40 to 60 per cent due to
shortage of the raw material. The two sides agreed to set up four more plants
at Koodankulam, Tamil Nadu, where Russia is already assisting in installing
two plants.
In addition, the two agreed to
explore the possibility of setting up more nuclear plants, with Russia offering
a new power plant AES-2006, which incorporates a third generation WER-1200
reactor of 1170MW. The nuclear reactor will operate at higher thermal power of
3200 MW with a longer life span of 50 years. What's more, all reactors will
reportedly be supplied with lifetime guarantee of fuel. Thus, the success in
signing these agreements makes Russia
the first country to have established civilian nuclear cooperation in concrete
terms with India
post the NSG waiver.
The visit has also seen significant
developments towards overcoming contentious issues in the already vibrant
defense ties between the two countries. Principal among these is the
tendentious issue of cost escalation for the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral
Gorshkov, which India
has contracted to buy. On the eve of Medvedev's visit, the Cabinet Committee on
Security (CCS) chaired by Manmohan Singh gave its seal of approval to an
agreement reached between the two sides to resolve the pricing issue within
three months as Russia
has more than doubled the original price of the carrier to over $2 billion.
Another issue is the confusion over
the fate of the deal on the Russian-built nuclear powered, Akula-II class Nerpa
attack submarine, which met with an accident during trials in the Sea of Japan
last month. It was to be rechristened in the Indian Navy as INS Chakra and
delivered by 2009 on a 10-year lease primarily to be used to train crews to
operate this kind of a vessel. The Russian President however, dismissed the
differences on the purchase of military platforms as "nothing
special" that couldn’t be resolved by "adjustments" by both
sides.
The UPA-led government has approved
the acquisition of 80 medium-lift Mi-17 helicopters from Russia worth $1.3
billion. Besides, Space agencies of both the nations agreed on plans for
cooperation in manned space flights, in addition to their resolve to cooperate
in Chandrayaan II. Regarding the sluggish economic ties between the two nations
that thanks to a host of problems, including visas for businessmen, the plan is
to increase trade to $10 billion by 2010 from this year's $7 billion, and
diversify economic cooperation.
In the joint agreement, the two
sides also emphasized the important role of the private sector in developing
bilateral trade and investment between each other, taking special note of the
creation of the India-Russia CEOs Council. Expressing satisfaction over
cooperation in the field of science and technology under the framework of the
Integrated Long Term Programme (ILTP), they also underlined the importance of
bringing relevant technologies to their respective markets. Last but not the
least, both New Delhi and Moscow expressed satisfaction at the successful
conduct of the 'Year of Russia' in India, 2008. Now, it was time to work
together on the smooth holding of 'Year of India' in Russia in 2009.---INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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