India and Japan sign historic agreement for the civilian use of nuclear energy
The agreement provides for the supply of energy only for peaceful purposes and has a clause allowing Japan to terminate the pact if India conducts a nuclear test. Tokyo’s first agreement with a country that has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Other agreements in the field of infrastructure, textiles, transport and aerospace exploration.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) - The Prime Ministers of India and Japan have signed a landmark agreement for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The signing took place yesterday in the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, during an official visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is Tokyo’s first agreement with a country like India, which has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (Tpn) and has aroused distrust of nuclear power elite which controls atomic technology on a global level. The agreement also aims to counter the dominance of China in the Asia-Pacific region, and reaffirm the strategic partnership between Delhi and Tokyo to "stabilize Asia and the world."
Analysts point out the importance of the agreement for both parties. For Japan, it helps to revive the nuclear industry after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, which put a halt on foreign demand for power plants. For India, it is a milestone for its economic development, which has marked extraordinary growth reaching up to a 7.6% threshold.
The agreement stipulates that the nuclear energy and technology provided by Japan is used for peaceful purposes only. The agreement has a clause allowing Japan to terminate the pact if India conducts a nuclear test.
The hypothesis of a nuclear test is remote, although recently the continuing tensions with Pakistan – which also has nuclear capabilities - on the issue of Kashmir have rekindled the concerns of the international community.
As well as agreements the use of nuclear power, a package of 10 agreements were also signed providing for forms of collaboration in the infrastructure sector, the textile and manufacturing, art and culture, sports and aerospace exploration.
For Japan, India and its population (consisting of 1.2 billion people) are a huge reservoir of workforce and investment opportunities. In the period 2015-2016, trade between the two countries totaled 14.51 billion dollars (13.33 billion euro). 1,200 Japanese companies are located in India and foreign direct investment has increased six-fold in the last 10 years.
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02/10/2016 20:01
