Khurshid to represent India at Nuclear Summit next month

India will be represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid at the third Nuclear Security Summit to be held in the Netherlands next month.
"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not participate in the summit and the External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is going to lead the Indian delegation," said Amandeep Singh Gill, Joint Secretary for Disarmament and International Security Affairs, MEA, here.
He was addressing a round table discussion on Nuclear Security Summit 2014 here.
The Netherlands will be hosting the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague on March 24 and 25. Leaders from 58 countries are expected to assemble at the world forum to make specific agreements on preventing nuclear terrorism.

At the earlier two Summits, the Prime Minister had led the Indian delegation.
Gill denied that India participates in the event just because US President Barack Obama calls it. "We are doing it because we have an experience with terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism," he added.

"We have a long experience with both security and strategic aspects for nuclear energy. Our civil nuclear programme is slated for major extension. Therefore, it is in India's interest to ensure that nuclear security is not breached within the country and if there is such a breach, there will be an impact over public confidence," he said.

The official said India does not want to mix nuclear security issues with the confidence building measures and disarmament, and "an agreement with Pakistan over nuclear security is a different focus all together".
Pakistan and India exchange every year the list of their nuclear installations under a bilateral agreement that bars them from attacking each other's atomic facilities.
"India's participation in the international initiative is the logical culmination of what we have set up as domestic nuclear initiatives with our acceptance as mainstream responsible nuclear weapon state," he said.