South Africa promises India support on nuclear deal
Monday, 02 October 2006, 19:30 IST
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PRETORIA: India can expect support from South Africa when its civil nuclear agreement with the United States comes up before the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), South African President Thabo Mbeki indicated in no uncertain terms to visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here Monday. The two leaders, who met in the South African legislative capital for bilateral talks that followed two days of interaction in Durban in connection with the 100th anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's satyagraha, discussed the possibility of civilian nuclear cooperation during their 75-minute talks. While the restricted meeting between the two leaders and select officials went on for 50 minutes, several South African ministers, including the trade and industry minister, joined later for the delegation level talks. They signed a joint declaration reaffirming the strategic partnership between South Africa and India. An agreement on education was signed by Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma and South African Education Minister Naledi Pandor. The two countries were initially supposed to sign three agreements. "After it (the deal) is passed by the US Congress, it will go before the Nuclear Suppliers Group of which South Africa is a member. I hope that when that happens, South Africa will take a sympathetic view of India's concerns," Manmohan Singh told reporters at a joint press conference with Mbeki. Mbeki responded by saying: "We have discussed the matter. We are all awaiting the outcome of the processes at the US Congress." "South Africa has no problem in that. When the matter is to be decided, South Africa will surely support it," he added, saying that the matter had been discussed by the NSG in its meeting in Brazil. The issue of UN reforms came up as well in the talks. "During our discussions, we decided to strengthen our cooperation in the reform of the UN system and, in particular, reform and expansion of the UN Security Council, without which the overall reform of the United Nations will remain incomplete," Manmohan Singh said in his opening remarks. Asked whether India would support South Africa as a permanent member of the Security Council, he said: "South Africa is eminently entitled to that place by virtue of its standing." Mbeki added in a humorous aside later to a question on satyagraha - the passive resistance movement that Mahatma Gandhi began here a century ago - that it was not necessary for India and South Africa to mobilize a campaign of civil disobedience. "We'll use other means (for reforms in the Security Council)." The South African president also laid stress on the need for sharing information on terrorism during the brief media interaction. Referring to the 7/11 Mumbai blasts and the subsequent investigations, Mbeki said "the kind of work in Mumbai becomes important for our own law enforcement agencies". "We would want to draw strongly on India's experience," he added, and laid forward the supposition that if the terrorist had flown in from South Africa and information was being shared then such acts could possibly be prevented. "Sharing must be done as extensively as possible." "When any act of terror occurs, surely the war against terrorism has not been won," Mbeki declared. In his opening remarks, the president expressed satisfaction at the trade and investment relations but qualified that by saying: "It is clear that more can be done in that area." Bilateral trade between the countries is nearly $4 billion with South Africa being India's largest trading partner in the African continent. The India-South Africa CEOs' Forum holds its third meeting here to "provide further momentum to our economic cooperation in the jointly identified priority sectors", Manmohan Singh said.
Source: IANS
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