JOIN USWith his three-day visit starting December 20, all five leaders of the powerful P-5 (Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) nations would have visited India during 2010.
His would also be the last of the high-profile visits to India by world leaders in 2010 and commemorate the 10th anniversary of the annual bilateral summit.
At least 15 agreements are likely to be signed during Medvedev’s visit. The Russian president will take part in official level talks in Delhi and also visit Agra and Mumbai, where he will stay at the Taj, the target of the 26/11 terrorist attack.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the Medvedev’s visit, Russian ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin said agreements between the two sides would be signed in different spheres including space, military, nuclear plants, exchange of scientists and even production of films. There will also be tie-ups on development and manufacturing of the fifth-generation fighter aircraft, science and technology co-operation to be extended by 10 more years and bilateral trade.
Kadakin said Russia would build 14-16 nuclear reactors in India and an agreement to build two more reactors, to the additional two under-construction at Kudamkulam in Tamil Nadu, would be signed while Medvedev was in India.
On the controversy over Hairpur in West Bengal as location for a new nuclear plant, Kadakin said it was not formally agreed to build a reactor there. “We have no problem with any site, be it Orissa or Karnataka. Russia is likely to build six of the reactors by 2017,” he said.
On the new nuclear liability law, Kadakin said: “We don’t think it is an impediment and a hurdle, but there is a difference between international agreement and India’s internal law. We are expecting more information. We have received some explanation, but we have not received precise and specific information on the future contracts with Russia and other hypothetical partners.”
Russia, unlike France and the US, is not taking a strong position on an issue that mandates liability on nuclear energy suppliers. It is competing with the two other powerful nations for contracts to build nuclear power plants in India.
He said the joint statement at the end of the talks would be a “serious and concentrated document depicting a new phase of relations and positions on international and bilateral issues. We don’t have any serious problems.”
Medvedev would be accompanied by a large business delegations as two business meetings would be held during the visit. Kadakin said the volume of bilateral trade, which was US $3.1 billion five years ago, would jump to US $9.8 billion in 2010. It would double in five years. On India’s UNSC permanent membership bid, he said Moscow supported it 20 years ago and reiterated it in the recent Russian foreign minister’s visit to India.