India, Russia pledge new era of ties

NEW DELHI—Indian Premier Manmohan Singh vowed to push for closer ties with Moscow as he left Sunday for a two-day visit to Russia to discuss trade and arms deals with President Vladimir Putin.
“I will convey to him (Putin) the high priority that India attaches to its partnership with Russia and the benefits that this partnership has brought to our two peoples,” Singh said in a statement before his departure. “Our multi-faceted bilateral operations with Russia are based on long-term interests,” Singh said. Singh and Putin were expected to sign deals to build four more Russian nuclear reactors in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and to jointly produce a fighter jet.
But a news report said Sunday that the deal on atomic reactors may not be signed during Singh’s visit because nuclear trade with India is still banned as it has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Indian Express newspaper cited unnamed foreign ministry officials saying the nuclear reactor deal was unlikely to be signed during Singh’s trip.
New Delhi is vying for approval from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group for a contentious nuclear deal with the United States under which it can get nuclear fuel and technology, but the process has suffered a setback because of domestic opposition. Earlier Thursday, Indian defence minister A.K. Antony, who is attending a high-level meeting in Moscow, confirmed the jet deal and said it, along with other initiatives, demonstrated “the strategic nature of Russo-Indian cooperation.”—Agencies