India, Kazakhstan to conclude talks for civil nuclear deal

I / Washington April 13, 2010, 10:28 IST

India and Kazakhstan will soon wrap-up inter-governmental negotiations on civil nuclear cooperation, a move that came after meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kazakh President Noorsultan Nazarbayev.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, is scheduled to visit Kazakhstan next month to draw a road map to implement the agreements and initiatives that were agreed between the two countries when Nazarbayev, visited New Delhi in January 2009.

During a 45-minute meeting with Singh, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit here, Nazarbayev also invited Indian companies to invest heavily in Kazakhstan.

Singh and Nazarbayev also discussed the situation in the region including Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Both agreed on the importance of stability, security and economic development of Afghanistan and also expressed concern at production of narcotics and trafficking of narcotics.

"Nazarbayev was very appreciative of India’s role in development and reconstruction of Afghanistan," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash, told journalists here, adding that he was of the view that once the situation in Afghanistan stabilises that would pave the way for direct surface link between India and Kazakhstan.

"The President invited Prime Minister to visit Kazakhstan, which he accepted," Prakash said.

"President Nazarbayev mentioned to the Prime Minister that they were planning 170 major projects in a variety of sectors to speed up the industrialisation of Kazakhstan and invited Indian companies to participate in those projects.

He also noted that there was a Customs Union between Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia and that Indian companies present there could supply their goods and services to the entire customs union so that they have a large area and population to cover," he added.