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Summary
Russia became the latest country to strike a civil nuclear deal with India yesterday when it agreed to supply reactors to Asia's third largest economy. International power companies from Russia, France, the UK, the US and Canada are flocking to India seeking opportunities to help one of the world's fastest- growing economies meet its energy demands. The contribution of nuclear energy in India is forecast to rise from 4,000MW to as much as 470,000MW over the next 40 years. The Russian deal follows a civil nuclear agreement with the US at the end of last year that helped clear the way for India to buy atomic power plants, technology and fuel from the nuclear club of nations. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, told reporters at the Kremlin after talks with Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president: Today, we have signed an agreement which broadens the reach of our co-operation beyond the supply of nuclear reactors to areas of research and development and a whole range of areas of nuclear energy. The two leaders also struck defence accords including a partnership to produce a multipurpose transport aircraft. New Delhi and Moscow have been close partners since India's independence 62 years ago. During this period, Russia became the largest supplier of military hardware to India. But it is energy that Mr Singh has described as the greatest emerging dimension of the relationship.
